KATHMANDU: The construction of a solitary bus park remains unrealized after five decades in Dadeldhura, the home district of Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba, who has held the office of prime minister five times.

Fifty years ago, the district headquarters was integrated into the national road network via American assistance. During that era, Deuba actively participated in student politics.

However, the development of the Amargadhi Bus Park has been consistently marginalized throughout the extensive period of active political life of Deuba, who declared his retirement following the Gen Z protest.

Deuba has not yet been defeated in any election in Dadeldhura. Similarly, he has not been a candidate from any constituency other than Dadeldhura in parliamentary elections. Nevertheless, the failure to construct even a single organized bus park in the district, despite Deuba’s strong influence, is a sad example after 50 years.

If the work had proceeded according to the government plan, the construction of the bus park should have been completed by the end of mid-November that very year.However, so far only one wall has been constructed in the name of bus park construction.

The dire state of this bus park construction in the Sudurpaschim shows that the pace of national development is embarrassing.

Raghuvir Singh Saud, the operator of Kalika, Malika, and UP JV, which was tasked with building the Amargadhi Bus Park and three buildings within 17 months, says he is frustrated by the incompetence and negligence of government bodies.

He says, “The contractor gets all the blame when the work does not get done. Only I know the chaos inside the bus park construction.”

Saud secured the contract two years ago, but in the first year, he was troubled by the community forest near the construction site. Locals did not allow the work to proceed until Rs 11.1 million, the cost of the trees cut in the Amargadhi Municipality, was deposited into the community forest’s account. Singh started the bus park construction after the forest area was cleared before the beginning of the fiscal year’s first month.

However, Saud’s argument now is that the construction cannot gain momentum because the national electricity transmission line connecting Darchula, Baitadi, and Bajhang falls in the middle of the bus park. He asks, “The deadline for bus park construction has expired; how should I proceed now?”

The bus park being built four kilometers north of Amargadhi, the headquarters of Dadeldhura, next to the Mahakali Highway that connects Darchula, Baitadi, and Bajhang, contains the Bajhang 33 kV and Baitadi 11 kV national transmission lines, which are estimated to cost Rs 2.2 million to relocate.

Although the Dadeldhura Distribution Center of the Electricity Authority has requested the budget from the Electricity Board, it has not yet been secured. Ramesh Awasthi, Head of the Center, states that a written commitment and agreement from the Board are required to move the 33 kV transmission line, and he is waiting for that.

The estimated cost of the Dadeldhura Bus Park, designed by the Department of Urban Development and Building Construction, Kailali, is approximately Rs 130 million. It includes the construction of three buildings: a two-and-a-half-story shopping complex, a ticket counter, and a terminal building, along with a toilet and a parking area.

Its construction period is 17 months. However, there is no sign that the bus park will be completed within the stipulated period. “The construction, which was started with the goal of building a model bus park for the Sudurpaschim, has now become an ugly example of development itself,” says Dan Bhandari, a tourism and hotel entrepreneur.

Meanwhile, the contractor, who was given the responsibility of building the bus park two years ago, is also caught in a continuous cycle of confusion.

According to Dipak Ojha, an employee in the Planning Division of the Department of Urban Development and Building Construction, the highway fell within the old design, so work must now proceed according to a new design.

Saud, the operator of the contracting company, says he is confused because the design of the bus park has been changed. He hopes that the remaining work will resume after the transmission line is removed.

Indeed, motor roads reached Dadeldhura in the 1970s. However, a single organized bus park has not been built in the district until now. There is no shortage of leaders in Amargadhi who promise to build a bus park. But that dream remains confined to slogans.

Since the road to Dadeldhura was paved in the 1990s, locals repeatedly demanded that Nepali Congress President and former Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba construct a bus park. However, he has signaled his retirement from active politics without fulfilling that demand. Deuba’s decision further increases the uncertainty of the plan to build a magnificent bus park in Amargadhi.