Motorway Pavement Project Stalls, Leaving Tanahun Residents Frustrated with Unfulfilled Election Promises

Tanasen. The Dulegauda-Harkapur Motorway becomes an election slogan in every election. Regardless of whether candidates run for local, provincial, or federal parliament, they all make the same promise: to build this road. Although leaders have won elections by highlighting this road, its condition remains the same. Years have passed, and the road's condition has not improved. During the monsoon, vehicles get stuck in the mud, and in the dry season, the dust makes it difficult to breathe.

Dal Bahadur Thapa of Kalimayang, Ward No. 3 of Shuklagandaki Municipality, complained that those who gave assurances to the public during elections do not deliver after winning. He said, "When elections approach, they visit our homes. They fold their hands, they show us dreams. But once they win, no one asks who we are. It is shameful that leaders' eyes remain closed to the state of this road. We only become citizens when elections are near."

Bishnumaya Pariyar of Byagan, Ward No. 6 of Shuklagandaki Municipality, lamented that the road only gains priority during election times. She said, "It is impossible to describe in words the suffering caused by this road. Leaders have only used this route as spice for their election speeches. We are suffering, while they reach power by giving speeches."

Seven years have passed since the contract was awarded for the blacktopping of the Dulegauda-Harkapur Motorway section from Bankewa's Tar in Ward No. 3 of Shuklagandaki Municipality to Harkapur in Ward No. 6 of Myagde Rural Municipality. Under the Gandaki Province Government's 'One Constituency, One Strategic Road' plan, Shankar Mallya Construction Service Pvt. Ltd., Kathmandu, won the contract for blacktopping the Dulegauda-Harkapur Motorway on Kartik 4, 2076 BS.

The agreement stipulated that the 10.18 km road blacktopping would be completed by Magh 16, 2078 BS, but the deadline has been extended four times so far. The extended deadline expires next Chaitra, but less than 50 percent of the work has been completed.

The section connecting Shuklagandaki Municipality, Myagde Rural Municipality, and reaching Vyas Municipality is 23 kilometers long. The contract for blacktopping the first phase of 10 kilometers was signed.

Deu Bahadur Shrestha, a local resident and former chairman of the Dulegauda Harkapur Motorway Consumer Committee, stated that locals and travelers are suffering from dust and mud because the region's oldest road has not been completed on time.