Money
Ministry seeks another Rs5b for postal highway project
The Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport has asked the government for additional funding of Rs5 billion for the under-construction postal highway even though the project has been making very slow progress.The Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport has asked the government for additional funding of Rs5 billion for the under-construction postal highway even though the project has been making very slow progress.
Joint Secretary Devendra Karki said they wanted the extra money to begin construction of the unfinished sections.
“As the postal highway construction project is now under the ministry, we have sought the additional amount in order to start the bidding process,” he said. According to Karki, they asked the Finance Ministry for more funding one and a half months ago.
The Indian government had initially undertaken the construction of the postal highway with an investment of Rs8 billion. The road extends along the length of the country and parallels the southern border.
In 1991, India had announced it would construct the highway; and in 2004, it had agreed in principle to build it. As per the agreement, the Indian government would bear the entire cost of constructing the 1,440-km highway.
The Physical Infrastructure Ministry said 67.84 km of the highway had been blacktopped so far. Nepal has agreed to construct 149 bridges on the route. As of now, 45 of them have been finished while 58 are under construction. Karki said the ministry planned to invite bids for 18 bridges in the next fiscal year.
Moves to improve the postal highway began in 2010 after the signing of a bilateral agreement in 2007. The road has been accorded priority for the development of Tarai-Madhes. It is expected to benefit 20 Tarai districts and 75 percent of the villages there.
The project stalled after the contractor abandoned it midway without notice. The cost of the project is expected to swell to IRs29 billion from the previously estimated IRs9 billion due to time overruns.
So far, 30 percent of the project has been completed, and vehicles have been plying the dirt road. During Prime Minister KP Oli’s visit to India last February, a new memorandum of understanding was signed to revive the venerable 1,700-km highway.
Meanwhile, the parliamentary Development Committee on Thursday directed the government to complete the construction of the postal highway in the next three years. The panel set the deadline after a team of lawmakers led by the chairman Rabindra Adhikari visited the construction site on the Mechi River in Jhapa through Janakpur.