Contract Terminated for Kaligandaki Corridor Road Section

Myagdi. The contract with the contractor for the Kowang-Jomsom section of the Beni-Jomsom-Korala road, part of the Kaligandaki corridor connecting China and India, has been terminated.

The Beni-Jomsom-Korala Road Project Office announced today through a public notice that the contract with the construction company that had left the 17-kilometer road connecting Kowang Khanti in Thasang Rural Municipality of Mustang to Tukche, Marpha, and the district headquarters Jomsom Bazaar unfinished for nine years has been terminated.

Project Chief Tejaswi Sharma informed that the contract with Pappu-Gauri Parvati Koshi & Nyaupane, which was supposed to be completed in two years but failed to do so even after seven extensions, has been terminated and a new process has been initiated to complete the unfinished work.

“The contract has been terminated based on Section 59(7) of the Public Procurement Act, 2063, as the company has not been responsible in fulfilling its commitments and conditions, with 200 days having passed since the deadline of October 25, 2082, which was extended for the seventh time,” she said, “We will proceed with a new process to complete the remaining work of the Kowang-Jomsom section, which has 85 percent physical progress.”

The contract for widening the road, constructing walls, drains, and blacktopping and concreting with asphalt technology at a width of 11 meters was signed with the said company on May 9, 2074, for Rs 70 crore. Among the projects operated in 11 sections for the upgrading of the 202-kilometer road connecting Maldhunga in Parbat via Myagdi to the Korala border in Mustang, only the Kowang-Jomsom section has been left unfinished.

According to the project, a penalty amount equivalent to 0.05 percent of the total contract cost has been imposed on the company before terminating the contract for the construction of the said road. In Thasang Rural Municipality, 400 meters of blacktopping and 300 meters of RCC concreting remain.

Additionally, about 1,200 meters of blacktopping remain in the upper area from the concrete bridge at Rajkhola, Marpha, in the same section. Approximately 500 meters of road from above the Puthaang Airport in Jomsom to the Nepali Army barracks remain for structure and blacktopping.

Blacktopping and concreting have been completed in other places. The lack of blacktopping on the Kowang-Jomsom road has been causing hardship to tourists, locals, as well as vehicles and pedestrians.