JHAPA: Blacktopping of the Bhadrapur-Salakpur road section has seen dismal progress in the period of one-and-a-half years.

Only 3.6-km road stretching from Bhadrapur of Jhapa to Salakpur of Ilam has been blacktopped during the period.

In this connection, the Kankai Moti JV was awarded a contract in July 2021 for completing the works within two years.

Engineer of Infrastructure Development Office, Jhapa, Deependra Kumar Saha, informed that the Province-1 government’s Ministry of Physical Infrastructure Development had awarded the contract of over Rs 266.9 million for the Bhadrapur-Fadani Pool-Ittabhatta-Salakpur road.

As informed, the financial progress of the road so far is six percent. The contract was awarded to complete the blacktopping the 10.3-km from the Ninda bridge to brick kiln (Ittabhatta) and 10.4-km from brick kiln to Dokandanda.

Deputy Mayor of Mechinagar municipality, Meena Uprety stressed the need for all sides to keep vigil on the contractor for completing the contracted works in the stipulated time.

Though over a half a dozen roads are being blacktopped in the district on the investment of the province government, the contractors are dillydallying in completing the projects in different pretexts.