Villagers of Lauri Gewog in Samdrup Jongkhar will have to bear the bumpy ride for some more time. The blacktopping work on Lauri Gewog Center road has missed the third deadline which was in December last year. The contractors have not blacktopped even a few meters of road. The blacktopping work taking unusually long has left the villagers frustrated.
The blacktopping works were divided into three phases and awarded to two contractors in May 2020.
The contractor who was awarded the phase one and two contracts has completed 30 per cent of the work. The contractor undertaking the third phase has completed 70 per cent of the work.
12 kilometers of road under phase three is ready for blacktopping. According to the contractor, work got delayed due to heavy rain. He is planning to resume blacktopping work soon.
However, 24 kilometers of road under phases 1 and 2 are not ready for blacktopping. The contractors haven’t laid granular sub-base on some parts of the road. Even works to construct drainage have yet to begin.
“Work has started long before but they never blacktop it. We don’t know where to report. With the road in bad condition, we are facing problem. Our vehicles get damaged which costs us huge money to repair,” said Wangchuk, a villager.
“With the bad road condition, it is not convenient. It takes a longer duration to reach Diafam while carrying patients. We will be able to reach on time if it is blacktopped,” said Sangay Dorji, another resident.
The contractor carrying out works on phases 1 and 2 says blacktopping works could not complete on time as heavy rain has caused damages worth more than Nu 11 M on the already blacktopped stretches.
The contractor also added that the district administration did not issue a written directive on the time extension provided till December last year.
He said as a result he could not insure the works adding that he won’t be able to bear all the costs.
However, the District Administration said that they had issued minutes of time extension adding the contractors should take responsibility to insure before executing the work. The officials also said that the contractor should bear the cost of the damages. The District Administration has terminated the contract for now.
The 36-kilometer-long Lauri Gewog Center road is being blacktopped by spending about Nu 110 M.
Kinley Wangchuk, Samdrup Jongkhar
Edited by Phub Gyem
