By Prakash Chandra Bhattarai
Damauli, Apr. 7: Just 21 days after laying the concrete on it, the bridge connecting Chitwan’s Thimura to Tanahun’s Ghinatar in Devghat Rural Municipality-5, has collapsed. The Chitwan section of the bridge crumbled down on Tuesday morning at 4:00 am.
“The residents around here woke up to the thunderous sound of the bridge as it came crashing down to the ground,” said Durga Bahadur Thapa, chairman of Devghat Rural Municipality.
According to Shiva Khanal, Information Officer at Road Division Office, Bharatpur, two spans along the Chitwan section have been damaged. The bridge over that section has three concrete and one steel spans.
Construction of the derelict bridge had begun on November 6, 2014 after handing over the project contract to Elite, Adventurer and Indreni Joint Ventures, construction companies.
As per the agreement, the infrastructure was to come into fruition by the end of November 2017. But despite surpassing the stipulated deadline, the construction kept moving at snail’s pace. Even after taking three years more than the agreed-upon deadline, the 220-metre-long and 8.5-metre-wide bridge couldn’t last more than 21 days.
Initially, the project had an allocated budget of Rs. 160 million. However, it shot well over the budget, reaching to a whooping Rs 216.8 million, citing design amendments.
Over the years, the bridge has suffered several setbacks in terms of time line. Earlier, work was suspended for 18 months due to the time spent on design amendment, six months due to 2015 earthquake, three months as a result of the subsequent blockade and additional few months because of the COVID-19 restrictions.
Chairperson of the Bridge Construction Committee Tanknath Poudel has said that the project will soon be completed. “We will be working towards rectifying past errors. The bridge will be inaugurated by the end of this fiscal year,” he reassured.