The Department of Road (DoR) -- implementing agency under the Ministry of Physical Planning and Works (MoPPW) -- recently sought financial support from the WB to complete the construction of ongoing 406 bridges.[break]
“Out of the total 406 bridges being constructed across the country, WB has agreed to support only around 125 strategic bridges -- those which are constructed along highways and feeder roads,” Naresh Man Shakya, senior engineer at DoR, told Republica.
The DoR had approached the WB with plan worth around Rs 12 billion, requesting for support to complete the ongoing construction of 406 bridges, proposing a five-year timeline.
“Responding to our tentative cost details for building 406 bridges a couple of weeks ago, the World Bank is ready to extend support of US$ 60 million that was already agreed last year and was to be endorsed by the WB board meeting scheduled in March this year,” said Shakya.
According to the plan, DoR would need Rs 4.47 billion in the first year, Rs 3.56 billion in the second year, Rs 2.3 billion in the third year, Rs 990 million in the fourth year and Rs 400 million in the fifth year for bridges to be constructed on both Strategic Road Network (SRN) and Local Road Network (LRN) across the country.
According to Shakya, out of the total 406 bridges under construction, only 30 percent fall under SRN that includes highways, proposed highways, feeder roads, and proposed feeder roads.
Apart from the ongoing construction, around 300 bridges are also to be constructed and 70 bridges will be rehabilitated along the SRN that include 10,000 km of different roads, having crucial role in national economy. Around 1,600 bridges have already been constructed all over the country.
As a preparation of the WB board meeting, WB officials and senior officials of the MoPPW held a discussion last week about the modality for the support.
“At the meeting, WB officials have agreed to support the bridge construction project by reimbursing the expenditure in installments,” said Tulsi Prasad Sitaula, secretary at MoPPW.
The government has provided Rs 2 billion for the construction of these bridges and Rs 600 million for maintenance of existing degraded bridges in the current fiscal year.
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