Upper House meeting: Govt's attention drawn to build new bridge over Kamala river

 Kathmandu, August 22 - Lawmaker Tulasa Kumari Dahal, in a meeting of the National Assembly today, called attention of the government to construct a new bridge over the Kamala River at the same location where an under-construction bridge has collapsed. 

The bridge which is under-construction is located on the Hulaki highway on the southern border of Dhanusha and Siraha districts in Madhes Province.

Speaking in the 'urgent time' of the meeting today, she urged the government to also investigate into the collapse of the under-construction bridge. Lawmaker Dahal said that two million people in the area are facing difficulty due to the failure of the under-construction bridge. 

"Ten local youths are staging a hunger strike in front of the office of the Chief Minister of Madhes Province since August 20 as the frequent initiative of the local people's representatives and people demanding construction of a bridge went unheeded. In this context, I draw the attention of the government to immediately start construction of new bridge," she said.

Stating that the locals are compelled to walk another 100 kilometres or travel via the Indian border to traverse a distance of 30 kilometres due to the lack of a bridge at the location, lawmaker Dahal stressed on the need of constructing a new bridge at the soonest and to probe into why the under-construction bridge there was made to collapse.

She informed the Assembly that a contract was signed with Pappu Lumbini Builders and JV Construction in 2068 BS for the construction of the bridge. The contract was worth Rs 249.1 million. As per the contract agreement, a 400 metres long and 11 metres wide bridge was to be constructed in four years from the date of the signing of the contract.

According to lawmaker Dahal, the deadline for the bridge construction was extended many times, but the bridge is not yet completed even in 10 years. She recalled that a memorandum was submitted to the Madhes Province Government following the protests by the locals.

The Hulaki Road Directorate dismissed the JV Construction after the locals' protest and the contract was awarded to Lumbini Construction. "As per the agreement Pappu Lumbini Builders should have completed the bridge construction by June 27, 202. But the construction was not completed on this date as well. The under-construction bridge collapsed in August, 2021 and is unusable. This matter has to be probed and the truth and facts behind this should be made public," she demanded.

Lawmaker Dahal said that the design prepared for bridge construction is faulty and asked who was to investigate on this matter. Stating the broken bridge is not in condition of repair and construction, she stressed on the need for building a new bridge at that spot.