Digging work under the Nagdhunga Tunnel Construction Project in Kathmandu has been halted for 20 days after digging devices got damaged.

The Nagdhunga Tunnel Way Project said that earlier they used to dig 3 to 4 meters on average in a day but the digging has come to a grinding halt for 20 days owing to damages done to the machines being used to dig the tunnel, shared Project Chief Nabin Man Shrestha.

Shrestha said that although other project works were ongoing, the progress on the part of tunnel digging was slow. He divulged, “The soil in the digging site was substandard and machines getting damaged are recurring problems in the project.”

The first tunnel in the country measures 2.7 kilometers in length and has two lanes. The project, for which the foundation stone was laid in October 2019, records 50.15 per cent physical progress so far.

Shrestha further said that the talks with the construction company Hazama Ando Corporation was ongoing as they have brought the matter to the knowledge of the Corporation entrusted with the construction of the tunnel.

The Japanese construction company is reeling under human resources crunch and lacking adequate machines at present, it was said.

“The kind of rocks being unearthed while digging was different from the survey. Also, rocks are coming out while digging has been different than estimated in the design of the project,” said Shrestha.

The tunnel is being constructed with loan assistance from the Government of Japan and is expected to reduce the time to clear the Nagdhunga Pass to one-third of the current time and make transportation of people safe and efficient.

Furthermore, delays in addressing the compensation issues related to land acquisition were further pushing the deadline of the project to be completed within 42 months from the start.

Workers falling sick, unavailability of machines and tools and other hurdles during the COVID-19 pandemic slowed down the construction process.

Amid this, Bijay Jaisi, chief of Development Assistance Division under the Department of Road said that only digging work was halted while the construction of other infrastructures under the project continues.