Overhead bridge projects left in limbo in Kohalpur

BY OUR CORRESPONDENT,Nepalgunj, Jan. 24: Projects to construct three overhead bridges in Kohalpur have been abandoned even after preparing a Detailed Project Report (DPR). 

The DPR for the overhead bridges in New Road Chowk, Sajha Chowk and High School Chowk in Kohalpor was prepared in 2020 when former Mayor Loot Bahadur Rawat was leading the city. 

However, after winning the mayoral election in 2022, Mayor Purna Prasad Acharya conducted a preliminary inspection of the bridge construction sites in the presence of engineers last year. 

The construction work has not begun despite including it in the programme and policies of Ward No. 10 and 11 in the Fiscal Year 2022/023 resulting frozen of a budget of Rs. 15 million allocated in the previous fiscal year. 

Mayor Acharya had also prioritised the construction of the overhead bridges in his electoral manifesto. 

He said that since the municipal budget was not enough for the construction of the bridges, they had requested the provincial and federal governments for the additional budget. He said that though DPR for all three bridges was prepared during the tenure of the previous mayor, the initial inspection carried out for two bridges revealed that the allocated budget was insufficient. 

Mayor Acharya informed that the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure had already called for the tender of the bridge construction. Stating that the construction work has not commenced due to a change in design, he informed that it would start once the design and blueprints are revised and approved.