During heavy rains, it is common for the water level in the rivers surrounding the highway to rise and the roads to be blocked due to floods and landslides. However, on the BP Highway, even normal rains have affected traffic even when the sun is shining.

The BP Highway has been blocked due to the impact of the rains in the upper areas of the Roshi River, around Phulchoki, Panauti, Banepa and Dhulikhel. Normal rains will damage the temporary structures of the highway and crores of rupees are being spent on repeated diversions, while doubts have also arisen about the timely completion of the highway reconstruction work.

The BP Highway has been closed several times this year even before the monsoon has started. Passengers are forced to travel on this highway at their own risk after the roads are blocked due to floods even during normal rains. This situation has arisen after the BP Highway in the district was completely damaged by the floods in the second week of Asoj 2081.

BP Highway has been closed several times this year even before the monsoon has started. After floods started blocking the road during normal rains, passengers are forced to travel at their own risk. The flood completely damaged 8 kilometers of the 12-kilometer road from Chowkidanda in Namobuddha, Kavre to Kaldhunga in Roshi Rural Municipality. The completely damaged highway was repaired and brought into operation. The highway, which was damaged by the flood of the Roshi River in Asoj 2081, was repaired by the Road Division Office, Bhaktapur and brought into operation after about 10 days. An investment of about 100 million rupees was made for this. The highway, which was temporarily repaired and brought into operation, used to be blocked even during normal rains. Thousands of passengers have been stranded on the highway many times. Traffic was resumed by creating diversions on the highway that was blocked at various times due to floods, informed Divisional Engineer Suman Yogesh, Chief of the Road Division Office, Bhaktapur. According to him, the office has spent Rs 39 million on road maintenance and diversions on the BP Highway from Asoj 12 to Asaj 30, 2082 alone.

Work has been progressed by signing contract agreements with two construction contractors in Asaj 2082 and one in Kartik. Last Asaj, an agreement was signed with Lama/Navkantipur JV for the reconstruction of 11 kilometers from Charsay Benshi to Bhakundebenshi for Rs 1.14 billion. In Asaj, an agreement was signed with Khani/Kamaljit/Awan JV for the reconstruction of 8.5 kilometers from Dalabenshi to Charsay Benshi for Rs 1.22 billion.

Bhakta Bahadur Lama, head of the Mine/Kamaljit/Awan JV, said that the work could not be done effectively due to the rains. According to him, less than a month after the work started, another disaster had to be faced. ‘On Asoj 17, 18 and 19, 2082, the highway was damaged again by the Roshi flood,’ he said. ‘Since then, whenever it rains, the diversions are damaged and the work is affected.’

He said that when the water level in the river rises, the highway is blocked and in some places the diversions are washed away. Lama said that since the contract agreement was signed in Asad, 2082, the diversions have been built seven times. ‘Each time, it costs 60 to 70 lakhs to build a diversion. Even if the Road Department provides general support, most of the expenses are borne by the businessmen,’ he said. He said that the diversion that was repaired every time was washed away by the flood of Roshi. ‘The expenses we spent on building the diversion have flowed into the river,’ he said. He said that the biggest challenge in the reconstruction work now is the sudden change in the weather. ‘While the sun is shining below, it rains in the upper areas and floods suddenly occur. At times, workers have to run away to save their lives,’ he said.

According to him, the floods in last Falgun and Baisakh caused damage worth about 20 million rupees at the site where the reconstruction work is being carried out permanently. ‘The flood washed away the goods at the place where the work is being carried out permanently,’ he said, ‘The materials prepared for the slope were washed away, such as the formwork, rods, pipes, and generators. On the one hand, the work could not be completed on time, and on the other hand, the flood has caused damage worth millions of rupees.’ According to him, there is concern that the water will damage the goods and the work will not be completed on time.

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The Lama/Navakantipur JV, which is working on the 11-kilometer stretch from Charsay Benshi to Bhakundebenshi, has stated that it has had to make diversions about 10 times since the agreement was signed. Janak Bhatta, head of the Lama/Navakantipur JV, said that it has suffered about 20 million rupees in the 10 diversions. According to him, along with financial losses, it has also faced human losses while working on the highway. ‘On Chaitra 13, a worker was swept away by a river and died,’ he said, ‘The highway is blocked after rain, machines have to be sent to the river to clear the road, and when the flow is high, you have to work at great risk.’

Even if the road is blocked by floods and diversions are immediately made and cleared, the expenses incurred will not be covered by the amount provided by the Road Department, he said. According to him, the budget received from the department covers only about 10 percent of the cost of maintenance and construction of diversions. He said that the remaining amount will have to be added from the construction businessmen's own sources. Bhatta said that the increase in the price of construction materials has also put additional pressure on the work. He said that the construction work has been affected after the cost of diesel, rods, cement and transportation has increased significantly. 'Currently, the cost of living has increased in every area, and if this situation continues, it may be difficult to complete the work within the stipulated time,' he said.

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An agreement has been signed with Uma/Bhandari/Amarjyoti JV for the reconstruction of the 2.2-kilometer road from Dalabenshi to Sukka Landshove for Rs 685.8 million and work has already begun. Even though the agreement was signed in 2082 Kartik, the work has not been effective due to the monsoon, informed Rameshwor Thapa, the head of Uma/Bhandari/Amarjyoti JV. According to him, even if there is no rain in this area, the rain in Panauti, Banepa, and Dhulikhel has caused floods here. 'Work here comes to a standstill after the flood. The road has been blocked more than 6-7 times due to floods, and Rs 1.3-1.5 lakh has been spent on repairing the diversions washed away by the floods,' he said. According to him, there has been difficulty in managing diesel to build the diversions. 'The road is blocked due to floods, oil is needed to run the machines, and it is also difficult to bring oil there,' he said. 'Many times, people have to carry diesel and put it in the machines.' He said that the reconstruction work cannot be completed on time due to floods caused by normal rains.

With the onset of the rainy season, the risk of floods and landslides is increasing, and the workers deployed for the BP Highway expansion work are also working at risk. While the highway is being widened, the flow of the river, the problem of diversions flowing, and the continuous rain have added challenges to the workers.

Bhesh Bahadur Ale Magar, 20, of Nawalpur, is currently busy constructing a road under the BP Highway Expansion Project. He has been working in the area for 6 months. He is currently engaged in road cutting, piling and foundation construction. According to him, it is very difficult to work during the rainy season. ‘As soon as it rains, the constructed structures are damaged,’ he said. ‘So far, the diversion has been washed away three or four times.’ He said that it is not certain when the flood will come while he is working.

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The difficult journey due to rain on the BP Highway connecting the capital to eastern Nepal is also a problem for passengers and drivers. Due to the damage to the road, frequent repairs and the risk of floods and landslides, passengers and drivers who commute daily are constantly suffering.

According to Gokarna KC, who has been driving on this route for 12 years, it takes twice as long to cross the highway in this area. ‘It takes 5/6 hours to reach a place that used to take 3 hours at 7 am,’ he said. He is closely monitoring the road condition, which he commutes to every day. He has experienced that traveling is even more risky during the rainy season.’

He said that both passengers and drivers have suffered as the road is washed away, landslides occur and the repair work has to be started again after the flood. According to him, this road has been built many times, but the work has not been completed. ‘It is built once, after two hours of rain, the flood washes it away, it is built again, and it is damaged again,’ he said, ‘The Roshi River has not only washed away the road, it has also wasted the government’s money.’

According to Suman Yogesh, Senior Divisional Engineer of Road Division Bhaktapur, work is currently underway in three sections for the reconstruction of the BP Highway. According to the contract agreement in the three sections of the reconstruction, 30 percent of the work has been completed so far on the 8.5-kilometer road from Dalabeshi to Charsay Benshi.

25 percent of the work has been completed on the 11-kilometer road from Charsay Benshi to Bhakundebenshi. Similarly, 27 percent of the work has been completed on the 2.2-kilometer road from Dalabeshi to Sukka Landslide. ‘Permanent reconstruction work is underway in the areas damaged by the 2081 flood,’ he said. ‘Work is underway to install a plumb wall from the river in Chowkidanda, and work is underway to widen the road with RCC walls in Charsay Benshi and Bhakundebenshi.’

According to him, work is being expanded to various sections of the highway, and work is being done to widen the road from Dalabeshi-Mangaltar section to Charsay Benshi. He said that the goal is to complete the construction work before the monsoon and start operating the road. ‘Despite the rapid progress of the work, it has not been possible to work effectively due to the rain,’ he said, ‘therefore, it seems that it will be difficult to complete the work on time.’ 

Local stakeholders have demanded that the work of the permanent structure be completed quickly, saying that the temporary diversion being constructed on the damaged section of the BP Highway is not a long-term solution.  According to Dinesh Lama, Chairman of Roshi Rural Municipality, since the diversion is only a temporary arrangement made to facilitate immediate traffic, there is a risk of frequent flooding.  ‘The work of constructing the permanent road structure has now started on the original track,’ he said, ‘Although the construction company has started the work of erecting the structure, it has not progressed as expected. If the permanent structure can be completed soon, there is no need to depend on the diversion.’ 

He said that the main reason for the slow construction work is that the construction business has not been able to mobilize sufficient manpower and equipment.  ‘The work seems to be going a bit slowly, but the solution is not to change the track and move the road to another place, but rather to speed up the work of the current permanent structure,’ he said. According to him, the diversion currently being operated from the river has been repeatedly washed away by floods. According to him, although temporary diversion is necessary for immediate traffic operation, it is not an effective solution in the long term. He said that the situation of having to spend repeatedly on diversion will end once the permanent structure is built quickly. He urged the construction company to speed up the construction of the permanent road structure by adding the necessary manpower, equipment and resources.