Kathmandu, April 21

Construction work of the Gaushala-Chabahil road section has been halted after the truck that was carrying the construction materials for the project was stopped at Kavre district due to obstructions placed by the locals due to fear of the coronavirus spreading in the area.

Kuber Nepali, chief of the Division Roads Office, Kathmandu, informed that the work had to be stopped due to the non-availability of construction materials.

According to him, the locals of Bhumlu Rural Municipality-10 of Kavre have been disrupting the transport of necessary construction materials including chips.

Although the concerned District Administration Office and the municipality had given approval for transport of the materials, the locals said that they had stopped the truck due to the fear of the COVID-19 spreading in their locality.

Similarly, the blacktopping work along Putalisadak in Kathmandu has also stopped due to the inability of the authorities to bring construction materials from Roshi Rural Municipality of Kavre.

By forming a group of 10 each of about 70 workers, maintenance work at the Gaushala-Chabahil road section was being carried out by maintaining social distancing.

As per Nepali, talks are being held with the locals to allow the transport of the construction materials.

He claimed that the work on Chabahil-Gaushala section and the over-laying work in different other places will start as soon as the construction materials arrive. However, the locals have not yet agreed to allow the vehicle to depart for Kathmandu.

The Department of Roads (DoR) had aimed to complete the construction in about a week, but the work has been halted due to lack of construction materials.

Meanwhile, the problem of leakage of drinking water pipes in Chuchepati area is being resolved. The existing black-topping in this section is being totally demolished and a new black-topping will be applied.

A version of this article appears in print on April 22, 2020 of The Himalayan Times.