The government has terminated the contract for the 9.5-kilometre Belase–Golakharka Bhanjyang section of the Mechi Corridor road in eastern Nepal after the project fell well short of its completion target. The Road Division Office, Ilam, issued a public notice on Wednesday, 12 Kartik 2083, formally ending the agreement for the road section linking Ilam, Panchthar and Taplejung districts. The Rs 27.22 million project had achieved only 47 percent physical progress, despite repeated extensions to its deadline.
Contract ended after missed deadline
The road section is part of the Kechana–Kanchenjunga road, also known as the Mechi Corridor. The contract required the Belase–Golakharka Bhanjyang work to be completed by 29 Poush 2080. That deadline passed without the project reaching completion, and the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure Development said the work remained less than halfway finished when the contract was terminated.
Repeated extensions had been granted, but they did not bring the work to completion. The latest decision brings the existing agreement to an end rather than allowing further work to continue under the same contract. The public notice from the Road Division Office, Ilam, is the formal step that confirms the termination.
The gap between the original completion date and the contract’s eventual termination underscores the length of the delay. The project had a defined scope - a 9.5-kilometre road section - and a stated budget of Rs 27.22 million, but less than half of its physical work had been completed. The ministry’s progress figure places the project at 47 percent, leaving a substantial portion of the planned work unfinished.
New bidding process planned
Minister for Infrastructure Development Sunil Lamsal said the government will begin a new bidding process to complete the remaining work. The plan is to seek a new contract for the unfinished portion after ending the existing agreement. No further details about the timing of the bidding process were provided in the information released about the decision.
The new procurement process is intended to move the remaining work forward, but the termination itself does not complete the road. Work on the section will still need to be taken up under a new arrangement, with the unfinished portion to be addressed through the planned bidding process. The ministry has not provided a new completion date in the details available.
The decision separates the completed portion of the project from the work still outstanding: the reported 47 percent physical progress marks what had been achieved under the terminated contract, while the balance remains to be completed. The next step identified by the minister is therefore not an immediate restart under the old agreement, but a fresh process to select a contractor for the remaining work.
Importance of the corridor
The Belase–Golakharka Bhanjyang section forms part of the Mechi Corridor, a road route that links Ilam, Panchthar and Taplejung. Its role in connecting the three districts makes completion of this section relevant to the wider corridor project. However, the contract termination concerns this specific 9.5-kilometre stretch; the information released does not indicate that the entire Mechi Corridor contract or road project has been cancelled.
For now, the immediate outcome is that the old agreement has ended and the remaining work awaits a new bidding process. The Ministry of Physical Infrastructure Development has identified the low level of physical progress and the repeated deadline extensions as the circumstances behind the decision. The government’s next stated action is to invite bids so the unfinished portion can be completed.
The project’s progress, original deadline and planned procurement restart will be central to what happens next on the section. Until a new contractor is selected and work resumes, the 9.5-kilometre Belase–Golakharka Bhanjyang stretch remains only partly complete, despite the passage of the original deadline and the extensions that followed.
