BP Highway likely to resume temporarily within couple of days

Kavrepalanchowk, Oct 3: The Road Division Office in Bhaktapur has commenced temporary repair on a 200-metres section of the BP Highway at Chaukidanda that was significantly damaged by recent monsoon floods.

This area, located at the border of Namobudhha and Roshi municipalities, saw significant erosion of up to 50 meters due to the escalated flow of the Roshi River. Division’s Chief senior engineer Suman Yogesh said that efforts are underway to correct the river’s course, allowing for the temporary reopening of the highway. One-way traffic is expected to resume within a couple of days.

Since the highway’s disruption last Saturday, locals and travelers were left stranded, awaiting aerial rescue since Sunday. The 160 kilomtres long BP Highway serves as the shortest route connecting the federal capital with eastern Nepal through the mid-Hilly region and has remained fully blocked since Saturday morning. A giant cliff above the highway and increased water flow has even made travel by foot challenging.

Road repair works have been started at Bhakundebesi of Kavrepalanchok and at Nepalthok of Sindhuli so as to facilitate the vehicles stranded on the highway to go to their respective destinations. The Road Division Office Bhaktapur has since Tuesday initiated the road repair works from the No 1 bridge up to Nepalthok, the stretch where the Rosgi river has caused much damage. The Dhulikhel-Bhakundebesi stretch of the highway which was obstructed due to landslide has been opened for one-way traffic since Monday itself.

The Division Office Bhaktapur stated that it has employed four equipment including scavators from the Kavre side and five equipment including dozers from Nepalthok side for clearing the landslide debris and opening the highway. Five equipment brought from Janakpur will repair the road up to Mangaltar and Narke, facilitating the stranded vehicles to travel towards Sindhuli.

Although exact data on the extent of road damage from Bhakunde to Nepalthok is not ascertained yet, it is estimated that nearly two kilometres of the highway on this 29 kilomteres stretch is completely washed away by the flood. The Office said that the road is badly damaged at various places on the 84kilometres stretch, including the third section of the highway which is 34 kilometres from Khurkot of Sindhuli to Nepalthok and the fourth section which is 50 kilomteres from Nepalthok to Dhulikhel.

The preliminary estimated cost of repair of the around two kilometres damaged road and the road at other places is more than Rs 2 billion, Division Chief Yogesh said. The District Police Office Kavrepalanchok said around 1,900 metres of the road on the Vhakunde-Nepalthok stretch of the highway has been damaged at 14 locations.