KATHMANDU, NOVEMBER 15
People residing along the Kamal Binayak-Nagarkot road section yesterday blocked the road when Minister of Physical Infrastructure and Transport Renu Kumari Yadav was travelling through the road section. Yadav had gone to Bhaktapur to inspect the road.
The road section has been in a sorry state for the past seven years. Minister Yadav was pressured by the locals to get off the vehicle and listen what they had to say.
Yadav tried to convince the locals saying she had become minister only one month ago. She also said she had already directed the contractor to reconstruct the road within two months.
However, the locals were not ready to buy her promises.
Hours after a heated debate, minister Yadav was able to get away. But, the locals' mood remained the same. "We know that this promise won't be kept as well, since contractors don't like blacktopping in the winter season as it gets too wet due to moisture during the night, thereby weakening the blacktops," said Abhishek Karki, a local resident.
The 16-kilometre long road that connects the valley's most-prized tourist destination Nagarkot hill station is in dilapidated condition.
This has pushed the business of hundreds of hoteliers down as tourists do not want to travel through the bumpy, dusty road.
Shailung Construction Pvt Ltd that had started the road expansion work in June 2014, had promised to complete the road by mid-July 2016. However, the contractor had only undone the pre-existing blacktop and left the road for the first two years. Currently, the road has been widened in many parts.
However, without proper blacktopping, the road becomes too dusty during winter and becomes muddy and filled with potholes during monsoon.
The public are furious that the existing blacktop has been undone as that has worsened the state of the road. "Why did the contractor undo the blacktop that was in fairly good condition when it could not immediately restart construction," asked Karki. Changu Narayan Municipality Mayor Som Prasad Mishra told THT that they had met various prime ministers, ministers and authorities from the Department of Roads, but they only received promises. "I have personally written letters to the erstwhile PM KP Sharma Oli and PM Sher Bahadur Deuba. But, all we receive is promises, no action,"
Mishra said.
The municipality had also written to the Development and Technology Committee of the House of Representatives regarding the matter.
However, there has not been any significant progress.
"Following our letter to the HoR, at least 22 lawmakers have visited the site and promised to undertake the construction soon, but surprisingly there have been no results," Mishra said.
The municipality has also aske the federal government to scrap the deal and provide them the authority to reconstruct the road.
A version of this article appears in the print on November 16, 2021, of The Himalayan Times.
