The old bridges on the Butwal-Narayangadh road, which carries 10,000 vehicles daily, both large and small, are unable to handle the heavy-duty vehicles.
What you should know
A bridge that broke down a year ago on the Binayi River in Dumkibas, East Nawalparasi, along the East-West Highway, has become derelict.
The bridge was broken after the Indian lorry carrying equipment from Shivam Cement Industry, NL 01 A 5179, could not carry the load. The broken bridge structure has been in the river for a year.
The government had fined Shivam Cement Rs 8.6 million for damaging the bridge by carrying more than the prescribed weight. However, the government did not pay enough attention to repairing or reconstructing the bridge. Now the bridge has become a place for passengers to take photos. Most of them have been asking about the future of the bridge through social media.
After the damage to the bridge, vehicles had to operate from the river for a long time. They had to endure hours of traffic jams while eating dust. The diversion was also not known. On Asad 5, at midnight, a bus, Bhe 1 Kha 4085, going from Kathmandu to Nepalgunj, was swept away by the Binayi River while trying to cross the diversion. The bus that was caught in the flood was swept away. The security personnel took the risk and rescued the passengers by putting them on a dozer. The passengers were relieved after the new bridge built during the road expansion at the same place came into operation.
The road is now four-lane. The bridge is only two-lane. Due to which there is a risk of accidents. ‘Even after a year since the bridge was broken, it has not been repaired. The risk of accidents has increased when vehicles coming from the four-lane road suddenly stop on the two-lane bridge,’ said Sanjog Shrestha of Dumkibas. ‘Now, will foreigners have to build the broken bridge or will the Nepal government itself build it.’
The broken Trust Bridge under the Butwal-Narayangadh section is more than 50 years old. It was built during the construction of the East-West Highway according to the traffic volume of the time and the load it could carry.
After the bridge collapsed, locals and passengers in the area had hoped for immediate repairs or construction of a new bridge. However, they are disappointed as the structure has become dilapidated.
There is uncertainty whether the Nepal government will construct the bridge under the road project being expanded with the help of the Asian Development Bank (ADB). Lalijan Khanal, head of the Bridge Division under the Road Department, said that since the 113-kilometer Butwal-Narayangadh section is under expansion, the project under the ADB should be responsible for the construction of the bridge in that section. ‘The work within the project area being carried out with foreign investment should be done by the relevant project,’ he said, ‘Knowing that there are fifty-year-old bridges, our weakness is to plan to construct only one bridge on a 4- or 6-lane road. It would be better if the ADB increases the budget for this and builds a new bridge.’
The road project, which is being expanded with the help of ADB's loan, has been saying that it will not be able to complete additional work and plans that were not included in the contract agreement. In addition to the bridge in Dumkibas, the bridge over the Turiya Khola in Sunwal and the bridge over the Ghodaha Khola in Rupandehi Devdaha have also broken in this section.
Pashupati Gyawali, head of the Butwal-Narayangadh Road Expansion Project, West Section, said that the project has informed the Road Department for the repair or construction of all three bridges. 'Two bridges in the western section and one in the eastern section have been damaged.' We have already informed the ministry to resolve this problem,' Gyawali said, 'This is not included in the current plan. We are confident that the Road Department will take the appropriate decision to resolve the problem.'
Since it is a main highway, the old bridges cannot handle vehicles with a load capacity four times higher than before. This section carries 10,000 vehicles, both large and small, daily. On top of that, it is difficult to handle the overloaded Indian vehicles. The practice of giving exemptions to overloaded vehicles by giving a simple fine has led to more damage to the bridge and the road. On Baisakh 30, the Girubari Bridge in Chormara, East Nawalparasi, collapsed due to overloaded vehicles. The Road Department had set a target of repairing it within 15 days. However, the bridge was repaired and opened for traffic on Jestha 24. Traffic has been brought into operation by placing supports on the bridge.
