Delay by contractor leaves Kobang–Jomsom road section stuck for eight years

KATHMANDU: The Kobang–Jomsom section of the national pride project, the Beni–Jomsom road, has remained incomplete for eight years due to prolonged delays by the construction company.

Of the 74-km Beni–Jomsom route, nearly 17 km between Kobang and Jomsom remains stuck because of the contractor’s negligence.

While the section from Ghasa to the upper Mustang area has already been blacktopped, work has stalled at three locations along the Kobang–Jomsom stretch. The Kali Gandaki Corridor project had awarded contracts for four sections of the Beni–Jomsom–Korala road in FY 2016/17.

The Pappu–Gauri Parbati Koshi & Nyaupane JV had secured the contract, worth Rs 700 million, to construct and blacktop an 11-metre-wide road. Although the contractor initially accelerated work, the progress soon slowed, eventually coming to a complete halt. Repeated notices and action initiated by the project forced the JV’s lead company, Gauri Parbati, to resume the work, but progress remains partial.

According to the project office, penalties amounting to 0.05 percent of the total contract value have been imposed due to delays. The project has already reached the seventh round of deadline extensions. As of now, the physical progress stands at 90 percent and financial progress at 80 percent, said project information officer Engineer Babu Saheb Baitha.

Gauri Parbati’s representative, Suman Adhikari, said work remains in specific pockets: 400 meters of blacktopping and 300 meters of RCC road widening in Tukuche of Thasang Rural Municipality. Drainage and structural works in the area have been completed. Likewise, around 1,200 meters of blacktopping remains above the Marpha Rajkhola bridge, and around 500 meters of structural and blacktop work is pending from above the Jomsom airport toward the Nepali Army barracks.

Adhikari claimed the remaining works would be completed by the end of Mangsir. “We have speeded up the works since taking over. The delay now is only because workers returned home for paddy harvest. Work will resume in a week,” he said.

The incomplete Kobang–Jomsom section continues to trouble tourists, locals, and daily commuters. Once the stretch is fully blacktopped, travel from Ghasa (on the Mustang–Myagdi border) to Kagbeni–Muktinath is expected to become significantly smoother and safer.