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Kathmandu, January 5: Despite the completion of three months after the BP Highway was damaged due to the flood in the second week of September, the attention of the concerned authorities for the reconstruction has not yet been received, while the construction of the road has been seen. As the process of sustainable reconstruction of the damaged highway has not started until months after it was temporarily operational, there are concerns about whether passengers will get relief in the coming rainy season. It is unclear who will build the BP Highway, which was damaged due to flooding.

The International Cooperation Agency (JICA) should be requested and some have suggested that the government should carry out the reconstruction work on its own without advancing some other plans for two years. Suman Yogesh, Senior Divisional Engineer (CDE) of the Roads Division Office, Bhaktapur, said no process has been initiated to reconstruct this highway. He said that the office has completed the survey and design work for the reconstruction of the damaged highway.

According to the design made by the Roads Division Office Bhaktapur, it is estimated to cost Rs 9.66 billion for the reconstruction of the damaged BP Highway. “The damaged highway was earlier an ‘intermediate lane’ road, now we will make it two-lane while rebuilding, the scoring depth of the ravine should also be measured and a high wall should be installed based on its parameters and the highway should be constructed accordingly so that the cost of highway reconstruction increases but the road becomes sustainable,” said CDE Yogesh.

He said that the situation could not be created by changing the alignment of the road from the place where the flood had damaged, adding that RCC, plump wall, gabbin wall should be installed for the road as the road should be taken from the boggy area by following the alignment. He informed that a design has been prepared for the reconstruction of the road by piling up to a ‘score depth’ that can be calculated below the ‘base level’ of the river in some places of the highway. The immediate need for $1 billion The Road Division Office, Bhaktapur, has said that the work will start if the government manages a budget of 1.5 billion rupees for the current fiscal year to start the work by reducing the procurement process by ensuring resources for highway reconstruction. “If the budget is arranged in a few days, the work of fencing the flood-damaged vulnerable places like Bokshikuna, Mamtili, etc. can be done, while the materials in the ravine can be removed and the vehicle can be driven in the rain,” CDE Yogesh added, “If it is late, then the vehicle will not be able to run in the rain so that there will be no alternative way to connect the capital. Since the road to Temal is narrow, long and unpaved, emergency vehicles can be driven, but private and public vehicles cannot be driven, instead of this, the route of Ramechhap, Charikot or Hetauda has to be used.”

The BP Highway was built with grant assistance from the Government of Japan. The Road Division of Bhaktapur has said that although the Japanese government and representatives of JICA conducted on-the-spot monitoring of the damaged highway two to three times after the BP Highway was damaged due to floods, there has been no concrete decision of the Japanese government regarding the reconstruction. Although there has been a level of discussion in the ministry after looking at the land road, there has not been a written and formal decision so far, although there is an informal talk that JICA may repair the entire part of the damaged road or some risky part.

It has been claimed that the work on the damaged BP Highway will be completed within two years if the government starts the work of rebuilding the road by ensuring resources soon. “If the government makes budgetary provisions, the road construction can be completed in two years,” said CDE Yogesh. (Gorkhapatra daily)

People’s News Monitoring Service.