Reconstruction work on Maju Dega, the three-storied temple of Hanumandhoka Durbar Square, has been halted for a year.
Its reconstruction work had formally begun in October, 2018, three and a half years after the devastating 2015 earthquake.
Kathmandu Metropolitan City has been reconstructing the three-storied temple. The metropolis has not extended the contract term after it expired in November 2020.
Roshan Shakya, chief of Hanumandhoka Durbar Area Conservation Programme Office, said that extending the contract term is in the process. The estimated budget of temple reconstruction is Rs. 60.2 million
Natural Sanu Suwal Pawan JV Pvt. Ltd. had agreed to complete the reconstruction of the historic temple by October 21, 2020. The working process was delayed earlier due to the lockdown in the wake of COVID-19 pandemic and shortage of wood logs.
Lately, delay in extending the contract term by KMC and clearing the payment hindered the construction of the temple, said Ratna Suwal, contractor of Maju Dega temple.
“We visited the Hanumandhoka base office several times to talk about the contract term and payment but the issues have not been resolved yet,” he said.
He further added, “We had submitted the payment bill of Rs. 5.6 million two years ago to the KMC. Now, it has reached over Rs. 10 million, and it has not been paid by the KMC to us.”
Major works including the time-consuming wood carving work on the logs, windows and doors have been completed. Only the work to fix them at the temple is left, he added.
The significant progress made on the reconstruction would be seen once the term of contract on the temple gets extended, he further said. “All necessary carved wood are ready to be fitted at the temple, and we are waiting for the extension of the contract term.”
However, the reconstruction work of Trailokyamohan (Dasavatar) is moving ahead in a satisfactory way; the contractor of both Maju Dega and Trailokyamohan are same.
The Department of Archeology (DoA) is reconstructing Trailokyamohan temple and it will be completed in five months, said Sandeep Khanal, executive director of Hanumandhoka Durbar Museum Development Committee.
Source : TRN,
