Ramechhap, November 16

The road upgradation task along Manthali-Ramechhap road section has been halted owing to acute shortage of fuel in Ramechhap.

Ramesh Prasad Dhungel, chief of the project, said they were compelled to halt all tasks, including black-topping and road widening for the past three weeks for want of fuel.

“Though we have reported to the concerned authority about the crisis, there has been no progress so far. If the import of petroleum products is not eased soon, we are most unlikely to complete the project within the estimated time frame,” said Dhungel.

“We have completed only around 25 per cent of the project so far though the contract binds us to finish by June next year. With the looming uncertainty caused by the fuel crisis across the country, our project has been left in a lurch,” he lamented.

Construction entrepreneurs require a large quantity of petroleum products to use crusher, operate heavy equipment and transport necessary materials.

Black-topping of the 13.37 kilometre road section was estimated to cost Rs 170 million and the budget was granted by Asian Development Bank.

However, the locals have put pressure on the contractors to complete the work at the earliest. “On the one hand, we are pressurised to complete the project early, whereas on the other, the fuel crunch has hit us hard,” said Dhungel.

The work on widening the existing road has already been initiated, but construction work has been halted due to fuel crunch, said Narayan Karki, officer at Ramechhap Municipality.