People travelling along Korila-Ngatshang highway in Monggar are not happy with the poor road condition and delaying of road widening works in the area. They said that it is high time for the government to intervene.
More than 11 kilometre stretch of the highway between Korila and Ngatshang is being widened. It started in March this year. However, there is not much work progress seen at the site. And this, in turn, has affected the motorists.
“It is inconvenient for us to travel on the road as the initial blacktops were all damaged. It takes another one hour to travel from Korila to Ngatshang. Even sick people are reluctant to travel via local bus. And I am not sure when the government is going to finish the widening works,” Kesang Dawa, a Bus Operator in Monggar, said.
The contract was terminated in June this year and it has been more than three months now without any work at the site.
“It has been almost five months since we awarded the contract work to Gongphel Construction Company. But as per the contract agreement, the contractor could not employ the required engineers at the site and we had to terminate the work in June this year,” Karma Rinzin, the Chief Engineer of the Department of Roads in Monggar, said.
BBS could not contact the construction company for comments. The company has reported the matter for arbitration for terminating the contract without any basis.
“95 per cent of the east-west highway widening works have been completed which falls under the jurisdiction of the regional office of the department of roads in Lingmethang. And we are left with only Korila to Ngatshang stretch. And as per our plan, we are going to complete the work by June next year,” Karma Rinzin added.
The tender for the work will be announced soon after the case is settled.
Sonam Tshering
