Mar. 26: The construction of the road in the Kaligandaki Corridor, a national pride project, under the Beni–Jomsom–Korala road has been completed using the rock-anchoring technology in the highly risky Kabrebhir area. The project faced significant challenges in expanding the road in this section. After two years of continued effort, the road has now been built, making travel easier in this segment.

The rock-anchoring technology has been used in various locations of Kabrebhir and Badarjungbhir, which are considered the most difficult and risky areas, to widen a total length of 500 meters of road. A two-lane road has been constructed in the middle of Anakantarbhir. Due to the increased risk of landslides during the cutting of the hill, the project used rock-anchoring technology to remove the machinery from the base of the hill below the road.

Engineer and information officer of the Beni–Jomsom–Korala road project, Bishnu Chapagai, said, “There used to be many accidents at Akrrebhir in the past due to the narrow road. It was a major challenge to construct the road at this location for the project. After significant efforts, the road has now been widened.” 

“The two-kilometre stretch in this section has been widened to 8 metres and paved. At 500 metres, we used rock-anchoring technology to raise the machinery wall from the base of Akrrebhir and completed road construction.”

The road has been widened towards the valley by drilling into the hill, placing rods, concreting and constructing a permanent wall. According to him, rock anchoring technology proved useful when additional landslides were a problem during hill cutting. The technology was used in the construction of roads at Kabrebhir, Badarjung and Ghoptibhir.

The project has stated that after widening the road, creating a slope and erecting a fence, transportation has become easier and safer. “We have used rock-anchoring and rock-nailing technology to expand the road in areas prone to landslides and at other places, explosive materials were used to break through the hill for road construction,” he added. Narendra Nyaupane, project manager of the Sharma-Gajurmukhi JV Construction Company of the Tatopani–Ghasakhanda section, said that workers took significant risks to construct the road at Kabrebhir. He said that the road expansion work in the Kabrebhir–Badarjungbhir area was completed after two years.

The 10.5-kilometre section of the Tatopani–Ghassa area is in its final phase of upgrading. Engineer and information officer Chapagai said that except for three kilometres with the risk of landslide, road-widening work has been completed and the work of paving with DBSD technology is in the final stages.

The project also issued a tender for the management and control of landslides at Sirubari, Guithebhir and Khambhitta hills. However, since no contractor took up the tender, the process of issuing a new tender has been initiated. According to him, the estimated cost for controlling landslides at Sirubari and Guithebhir is Rs. 10 million each and for Khambhitta, the estimated cost is Rs. 7 million.