Amidst the talk of building a 'signature bridge' (bridge) in Narayani, it has been almost a year since the foundation stone was laid. But there is no chance of building a bridge on the river bank. The then Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal and Physical Infrastructure and Transport Minister Raghuvir Mahaseth laid the foundation stone of the bridge on the banks of the Narayani River in Narayangarh on Baisakh 31 last year. But the construction of the bridge has not yet started.

The process of finalizing the design of the bridge is going on, said Engineer Krishna Acharya, Information Officer, Division Road Office, Bharatpur. For the design, Chinese experts have recently come back after conducting an on-site inspection. Apart from that, no other work has started in the field, he said. Tundi Construction Pvt Ltd has been entrusted with the construction of the bridge. The design of the bridge was contracted to be prepared by the construction company.

Lalijan Khanal, head of the bridge division of the road department, says that there is little chance of construction starting in the current financial year due to the incomplete design of the bridge. The construction company itself has not completed the design work. It is hoped that the design work will be completed soon. Even though the design work is over, it is difficult to start the field work in the current financial year due to the onset of monsoon,” said Khanal.

According to Khanal, there is a possibility that the construction of the bridge will start from the coming October-October after the monsoon is over. The foundation stone of the bridge was laid for the first time in the year 2038 by connecting Narayangadh and Gaindakot on Narayani river. which was completed four years later. Last year after 43 years, another bridge was laid in Narayani. An agreement was made with the construction company to prepare the bridge in four years. 

Although the foundation stone of the bridge was laid last year, the agreement was signed almost a year before that on June 2, 2023. Even after two years of the contract, the construction work has not started yet. A new bridge is being built under the cover of the old bridge in Narayani. It is being promoted as a signature bridge due to its different design and attractiveness from the old bridge. Even if a new bridge is built, the old bridge will remain.

The new bridge will be a seven-and-a-half-meter wide two-lane, with a three-and-a-half-meter footpath. The total cost of the bridge is 1.68 billion rupees. Like the old bridge, the new bridge of 420 meters length will have two main pillars. There will be a wide distance of 210 meters between the two pillars. In which water transport operations will be facilitated by the bridge division officials.