Out of the 30.5 km of roads damaged by the floods on the BP Highway, 25 km have been awarded contracts and work has begun. The remaining 5.5 km are in the process of being awarded contracts. Although the road contract has been awarded, the bridge construction contract has not yet been awarded. The work on the bridges that have been awarded contracts has also not been completed. Only after the road contract has been awarded and work has begun, has the process of awarding contracts for the bridge construction begun.

There is always a traffic jam on this highway after reaching the bridge. There is always a traffic jam on this highway due to the single-lane bridge. Now, along with the two-lane road, a study is being started to make the bridge two-lane, said Shubharaj Neupane, head of the Federal Road Supervision and Monitoring Office. According to him, a study is being conducted to construct four bridges in some sections of the highway. Although work has been contracted in some, the construction progress in some is not satisfactory.

‘Currently, the bridges on the highway are Sanghura and single-lane,’ he said, ‘We are starting a study to construct a two-lane bridge.’ Neupane said that after the study, a decision will be made on what kind of bridge to build. ‘There are bridges now, but they are not two-lane, which is a problem,’ he said. ‘New bridges are being built at Bhakundebesi, Dapcha Khola, Roshi Khola and Narke on the Dapcha River.’

Suman Yogesh, head of the Road Division Office, Bhaktapur, said that the contract for the bridges at Mamti and Kaldhunga on the highway has already been awarded. ‘Vehicles were driven from the Mamti Bridge during the rainy season of Asoj, only the finishing work is left,’ Yogesh said. ‘Although the contract has been awarded for Kaldhunga, the work has not been completed. The previous design is being reconsidered, and its report is yet to come.’ Although the contract for the bridge at Barkhe Khola on the same highway has been awarded, there is no progress in the construction.

Permanent construction work has already begun on the road for which the contract has been awarded. ‘It is possible to award a contract for the construction of a bridge and a road at the same time, we have given priority to building the road first because the bridge is already there,’ Yogesh said, ‘Then, only the road could be built according to the budget, so only the road was awarded first.’

The contract has been awarded for the road section except for the section to be done by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). Until now, the highway was being operated with temporary repairs. The floods that occurred on 18, 19 and 20 Asoj this year have again washed away the highway that was being operated with temporary repairs, adding to the problem. Now, vehicles have been brought into operation by diverting the canal. When the flood that occurred in Asoj last year washed away a 12-km section of the highway, passengers had to look for alternatives at the mouth of the Chadbad. The Road Department claims that there will be no problem in the flood next year.

‘The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the section to be constructed by JICA has been signed, the design has been finalized and the contract agreement is in the process of being signed,’ said Chief Neupane, ‘The design has been sent to the Road Department and is in the process of approval.’ JICA will construct a 3.2 km road from Piple to Barkhe Khola. The section is being constructed with a grant of Rs 2.63 billion from the Japanese government.

‘Japan has proposed to build a reinforced earth wall (Ariwall) in the design of the section to be constructed,’ he said, ‘It has not been decided whether to build the said wall or not, it will be known after the design is approved.’ A two-lane road is being constructed in the 30.5 km area damaged by floods from Bhakundebesi to Nepalthok along the highway. Three packages, two towards Kavre and one towards Sindhuli, have been signed and the contract agreement has been signed. The contract for the 11-km section from Bhakundebesi to Charsayabesi has been awarded to Lama-Nawakantipur JV for Rs 1.14 billion excluding VAT.