Construction of Long-Delayed Bridge Over Trishuli River Ordered to Resume

Tanahun. Instructions have been issued to immediately resume work on the bridge over the Trishuli River at Ghumawane, which connects Tanahun and Chitwan and has remained abandoned for the past 12 years. The Road Division Office, Damauli, has issued a formal letter to the construction company to initiate the work.

Rajiv Shrestha, Chief of the Road Division Office, stated that following the submission of the revised design by the contractor, the Department of Roads decided on Chait 15 to proceed with construction after the design and specifications were verified by third-party experts.

The delay in bridge construction has caused significant hardship for local residents, who have repeatedly drawn the attention of ministers, lawmakers, and the Road Division, and even staged protests at relevant agencies. During the last election, all candidates had signed commitments to prioritize the bridge's construction.

Siddhanta Thapa Magar, coordinator of the Bridge Construction Struggle Committee, noted the ongoing suffering of the public. Twelve years have passed since the agreement for the Ghumawane bridge was signed. Had the work proceeded as planned, the concrete bridge would have been completed by now. Currently, only the pillars on both sides stand. The initial contract for the bridge was signed with Mrit Sanjeevani Construction Company, Hetauda, in Ashar, 2070 BS.

Despite repeated deadline extensions and design changes, including a re-signing of the contract in Magh, 2075 BS, the Road Division Office reports that only about 36 percent of the work has been completed, even though the project was scheduled for completion by Chait, 2078 BS. The deadline for the bridge construction has now been extended until the end of Ashar, 2083 BS.

The bridge was intended to connect the Buddha Singh Motorway—which starts at Nirmalnagar, Vyas Municipality-1, Damauli, and passes through the banks of the Seti and Madi rivers—to the Mugling-Narayanghat road at Ghumawane Ghat, providing a shorter route between Pokhara and Chitwan.

This road, which benefits residents of Devghat Rural Municipality wards 2, 3, and 4, is approximately 23 km shorter than the Prithvi Highway's Mugling section. Once completed, this bridge will provide the shortest route connecting Gandaki Province to Narayanghat, saving 23 kilometers compared to the current Mugling-Narayanghat road. Without the bridge, vehicles are forced to turn back at the Tanahun border, while motorcycles must be manually pushed to reach the Mugling-Narayanghat section.

The bridge will be 105 meters long and 11 meters wide, including a footpath. At the time of the agreement, the cost of the bridge was 95.6 million rupees.