Key Takeaways:
- Contract worth Rs 18.84 crore signed in 2021; deadline Sept 2023
- Contractor received Rs 3.78 crore, but only foundation partly excavated
- Site prone to landslides, four families displaced after excavation
- Project contrasts with Gaumul and Jagannath hospitals already completed
A 15-bed hospital under construction in Budhiganga Municipality, Bajura, has remained largely stalled despite the contractor receiving Rs 3.78 crore, with less than 10 percent of the project completed long after its original deadline.
The hospital was supposed to be completed by September 6, 2023, under a contract signed nearly five years ago. However, only parts of the foundation have been excavated at the site, according to municipal technicians and health workers.
The municipality had awarded the contract to Sky Nishan Adhikari JV for Rs 18.84 crore, against an estimated project cost of Rs 22.01 crore. The agreement was signed on November 8, 2021, with a completion deadline of September 6, 2023.
The contractor has so far received Rs 2.60 crore as an advance and Rs 1.18 crore for completed work, taking total payments to Rs 3.78 crore. Municipal technicians, however, say the physical progress does not correspond with the amount paid.
The municipality has extended the deadline several times. Most recently, the contractor submitted a written plan promising to complete the project by mid-December 2026 after receiving a further payment of Rs 36 lakh. However, Mayor Ram Bahadur Baniya said the main contractor's representative became unreachable after receiving the money.
Hospital site itself under question
The stalled project is also facing questions over the suitability of its location.
The hospital is being built on a steep and landslide-prone site, despite objections from local residents from the beginning. Four families living above the construction site have already been displaced after excavation for the foundation increased the risk of landslides, Mayor Baniya said.
Baniya said the site requires roughly 50 metres by 100 metres of land, but the selected location is geographically difficult and risky.
He said he had proposed finding an alternative site during his first executive meeting after becoming mayor, arguing that a hospital should not be built there. However, he claimed political pressure and allegations that he wanted to shift the project to Barhbis, his home area, prevented the municipality from changing the location.
A municipal technician also said the Detailed Project Report (DPR) itself had problems related to site selection, while Baniya blamed the contractor's subsequent failure for further delaying the project.
Contractor also owes municipality
The municipality says it provided machinery, including a dozer and tipper, to facilitate construction. However, the contractor still owes the municipality around Rs 18 lakh in taxes, according to Baniya.
Despite repeated requests and deadline extensions, construction has not progressed as planned.
Health worker Dipak Shah said the contractor had already received more than Rs 3 crore but the hospital construction remained in disarray. He said the municipality had repeatedly been asked to expedite the project so that local residents could access hospital services.
The hospital was initiated under the federal government's 'One Local Level, One Hospital' programme launched during the tenure of then Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli.
The stalled project stands in contrast to neighbouring Gaumul and Jagannath rural municipalities, where 15-bed hospitals constructed under the same programme have already been completed and brought into operation.
