There is uncertainty in continuing the work, as the Ministry of Finance has refused to provide the allocated budget of Rs. one billion.
Nirajan Poudel
Kathmandu, Feb 26: Prime Minister KP Oli’s promise during his first stint to replace all Tuins (wire bridges) within two years is yet to materialize as only 41 percent of Tuins have been replaced with suspension bridges so far.
Oli, while assuming the country’s top executive post in October 2015, had announced to replace the Tuins with proper bridges, as many people in the rural parts of the country lost their lives while crossing the rivers.
Tuins, also called wire bridges, use a single wire rope, pulley and a simple wooden trolley to cross rivers but are regarded extremely dangerous.
According to the Ministry of Federal Affairs and Local Development, the then decision of the government to replace Tuins within two yearsfailed despite the allocation of Rs one billion budget for the purpose.
According to the Ministry, only 75 out of 187 Tuins have been replaced so far. This year, 59 are being prepared for replacement.
Photo courtesy: Bhaswor Ojha
Dinesh Kumar Thapaliya, Secretary at the Ministry, informed that there are 48 Tuins that are not possible to be replaced.
There is a problem to replace five Tuins at Mahakali River, bordering Nepal and India, while the progress of other half of the Tuins that the Prime Minister had announced to replace, has not been satisfactory.
Initially, it was said that there were more than 300 Tuins around the country that need to be replaced but it came down to 187 after a thorough study. Out of them, 23 Tuins had to be removed.
Similarly, the Ministry said that the blockade by India was one of the reasons for the delay in the construction of bridges. There was no infrastructure and agriculture. And there was a compulsion to import the poles from India.
According to Jivan Kumar Shrestha, Director General at the Department of Roads, the construction of bridges in place of Tuins was not possible in two years.“There is no possibility of removing 5 Tuins on the Mahakali River,” he said, adding, “It would not be completed even after a year, looking at the current situation of the country.”
The bridges were to be constructed in 148 areas while 48 Tuins needed to removed altogether. “There were motor-able roads or suspension bridges already built near the 23 Tuin areas, so we just removed the Tuins there,” Shrestha added.
Director General Shrestha said that there is uncertainty in continuing the work, as the Ministry of Finance has refused to provide the allocated budget of Rs. one billion.
As the government is now in the process of deputing the engineers and employees to metros and municipalities, it would not be possible to replace all the Tuins in the next one year, according to Shrestha. “We have stopped workingnow after the Ministry of Finance requested us not to continue due to unavailability of funds.”
Anothermajor reason for failing to fulfil the target is the lack of identification of areas that operate Tuins. Shrestha himself had collected initial data of Tuins working late in the evening on the day when PM Oli announced the Tuin replacement.
Where did the bridge constructed after the decision of Oli?
Following the announcement of then PM Oli, only 6 Tuins have been replaced with suspension bridges.
The Tuins being replaced with suspensions bridges are – one in Lalitpur District (over Bagmati River), two in Dailekh District (over Karnali River), one in Darchula (over Mahakali River), one in Surkhet (over Bheri River) and one in Jajarkot (over Bheri River).
The construction of bridges in 51 places is on-going while the tender process has begun in 86 places.
