Shortage of soil and stone takes toll on Mahakali bridge construction

Sher Bahadur Singh

The ongoing construction of four-lane bridge over Mahakali River at Bhimdutta municiplaity-12, Odali has been affected due to shortage of soil and stone.

Though it requires around 600,000 cube meter soil for the construction of pond dam on both sides of the bridge, the problem arises when the clause of soil and stone was not the part of the contract agreement.

There is a plan to construct a 5,200 metre dam along both sides of the bridge – which has been considered to be the commercial checkpoint of the far-western region.

"The contract has included the construction of two dams, each with the length of 2,600 metres, on both sides of the bridge", said engineer Kishor Raj Pandey who has been involved in the construction of the bridge.

He further informed that the construction of dam has not been initiated as the process for variation for soil has yet to be completed.

The contract also has included a plan for the construction of two ponds, each with the area of 1.2 square kilometers, on both sides of the bridge.

The dam construction requires around 150,000 large-size stones it has not been arranged yet.

The rivulet flowing through bottom of northern Chure at Bhimdutta municipality has enough pebbles required for the bridge.

But the locals have not agreed to extract the natural resources from the rivulet. It has delayed the construction of bridge structures.