Home Minister orders stalled Phurkekhola bridge work in Dhading to resume

Home Minister Sudhan Gurung has told Department of Roads staff to restart the stalled construction of the Phurkekhola bridge, the crossing that links Dhadingbesi, the headquarters of Dhading district, to the highway.

Gurung gave the instruction on Saturday, October 31 (Kartik 14), after meeting residents in Dhading on his way to Gorkha, Nagarik and Onlinekhabar reported. The residents told him the delay had made getting around difficult. According to his secretariat, as reported by Onlinekhabar, he also asked officials to coordinate with the government and do more to resolve the problems holding up the work.

The old concrete bridge at Phurkekhola, which connects eight of Dhading's local governments to the national highway, was one of four concrete bridges across the Trishuli swept away by the Bhote Koshi flood of August 26 (Bhadau 10), Nepal Samaya reported on October 30. Their loss cut the road between Dhadingbesi and the Prithvi Highway, and even ambulances have had to take longer, riskier routes. Local governments are now working to install a temporary pontoon, or floating, bridge there. Yamnath Danai, chair of Jwalamukhi Rural Municipality, said the effort, led jointly by the chiefs and deputy chiefs of all 13 local governments in Dhading, had reached its final stage.

In Gorkha, residents of Gandaki Rural Municipality told Gurung that without a bridge, farmers cannot get their vegetables to market in time, and some of the harvest rots in the fields, Nepal Press and Khabarhub reported. Gurung said the process to build a concrete bridge at Jyamireghat was already under way.

Elsewhere, in Manang, a flood on September 27 (Asoj 11) damaged the bridge over the Marsyangdi River at the district headquarters, Chame, making travel between Manang and Chame difficult. Timber has since been laid across the bridge's beams so that vehicles and people can cross, according to a photo report from Rastriya Samachar Samiti carried by Nepal Bahas on October 28.