CHITWAN: The deadline for the completion of Narayangadh-Muglin road project has been extended for the fourth time.

According to the road project engineer Shiva Khanal, the deadline for the road expansion has been extended since the contractor companies could not complete the work in time.

The Department of Roads (DoR) on Wednesday approved the proposal submitted by the consultancy engaged in the road construction project asking to extend the deadline citing obstructions during the elections, April 2015 earthquake, torrential rain and other blockades imposed, for the past two years.

Engineer Khanal said that the deadlines have been set for three road sections. The deadline to complete the first section is now May 10, for the second is May 20 while the third one will face deadline on May 30.

Earlier, the DOR had postponed the proposal of the consultancy to extend the deadlines which fell on the second week of February.

According to Pushkar Regmi, a civil engineer at the project's consultancy company, the DoR has now granted additional time to the contractors. The contractor of first section, BLA-Shrestha JV has been granted 85 days on proposal of 684 days, the second section contractor Wood Hill-Lama JV has been granted 89 days on the proposal of 336 days, while the third section contractor Supreme-Rautaha has gained additional 99 days on the proposal of 1,049 days.

The project engineer Khanal informed that 82 per cent of the work has been completed till now. Of the total 33.2 kilometres of road to be widened, 24.5 kilometres has already been tarmacked.

The Narayangadh-Muglin road project had contracted to complete the road widening by April 24, 2015.