Rock anchoring technique applied to prevent landslips in Myagdi road

By Thakur Prasad Acharya,Myagdi, Sept. 9: The Baisari landslide in Raghuganga Rural Municipality-2 of Myagdi district along the Beni-Jomsom-Korala section of the Kaligandaki Corridor, a national pride project, has been prevented by the 'rock anchoring' technique.

The continuous subsiding of rocks and stones from the landslide above the road used to block the road frequently in the past, causing substantial damage to physical infrastructure.

The Beni-Jomsom-Korala road project has used rock anchoring and bio-engineering techniques to prevent landslides and make traffic safe. A solid wall has been constructed by drilling into the bedrock and placing a large iron bar. After the construction of the concrete wall, stones stopped falling from above the road.

The concrete wall of one and a half meters in height has been constructed by putting aside the debris deposited by the landslide on the side of the hill and drilling up to one meter inside the stones. The workers have started to put gabion mesh on the iron bar that has been pulled out above the wall.

Gaumati Budhamgar, owner of the construction company Yuvraj Construction, said that after drilling a hole up to one metre deep in the stone, a concrete wall with a height of one and a half meters and a length of about 120 metres was constructed by placing a 25 mm iron bars there. According to her, this technique is considered appropriate in landslide prevention. 

"I have a long experience of working with rock anchoring techniques to prevent landslides," she said. 

The road project had called her company to observe the landslide and look for the feasibility of checking the landslides.  “After observing the site, we studied the feasibility and started the prevention work,” Budhamagar said. The work that began a month ago is in the final stage. 

Suhan Jung Karki, sub-engineer of the Beni-Jomsom-Korala road project, said that the gabion netting was started by breaking the big stones on the hill, moving them down and making a base with a slope by placing iron rods on top of the stones.

Engineer Karki said, "We have used rock anchoring as well as bio-engineering technology to prevent landslides."