The Department of Roads has stated that it would finish building 71 bridges out of the 279 under construction across the country within the current fiscal year. It has also been provided an additional budget of Rs. 949.4 million by the government for the purpose.

Out of the total targeted bridges this year, 13 connect national highways, 18 link feeder roads connecting district headquarters, 15 connect two districts, seven are on urban roads and 18 are on general roads of the country.

The length of the bridges being constructed ranges from 25 m to 75 m of the Imakabeli Bridge linking Panchthar with Taplejung district.

"We are continuing work as per our target. Let's hope there will not be any bandas and strikes affecting construction," said Dilli Raman Niraula, spokesperson of the department. "We are also in the process of receiving an additional budget within a few days from the Finance Ministry."

There are 279 bridges being constructed in the country. Work started on 77 new bridges in the current fiscal year and 202 are carryovers from the last fiscal year.

The government had targeted completing a total of 25 bridges on major roads during this fiscal year as a campaign in a bid to make vehicular movement smooth and avert traffic jams caused by lack of bridges.

According to the department, it will cost Rs. 2.55 billion for construction of all the 71 bridges situated in 34 various districts. A total of Rs. 1.05 billion has already been spent as of the last fiscal year on the construction of these bridges. This year, the government has allocated Rs. 438.5 million.

Niraula said that the budget provided by the government for the current fiscal year had already been spent following which the department had sought additional funds.

The department has also started a detailed survey and design work for constructing 232 new bridges in 56 districts. "The consultants have already been selected. The government has provided Rs. 25 million for this purpose," said Niraula.

Recently, the department has also demanded Rs. 4 billion for the next fiscal year for the bridges under construction, designing and building eight bridges including those in Karnali and constructing 60 new bridges on the strategic road network. Currently, there are 1,300 bridges linking various road networks in Nepal.



6066/67 Bridge construction target

Region    Under construction    Target

East     99    11

Central    81    20

Western    63    23

Mid-Western    18    8

Far Western    18    9

courtesy:The Kathmandu Post ( May 12 ,2010)