Himalayan News Service

Lalitpur, April 20:

The Lalitpur sub-metropolitan city is all set to construct six overhead bridges to ease the traffic follow on the streets of this historically and culturally important city. Following the footsteps of Kathmandu metropolitan city, Lalitpur is constructing the bridges at Pulchowk, Kupondole, Lagankhel, Gwarko, Hariharbhawan and Satdobato. 'We have started process for the construction of six overhead bridges at different places of the city,' said the city mayor Buddhiraj Bajracharya. The bridges are going to be constructed by Innovative Concept (IC) and the same will manage them for 25 years on lease. 'IC will pay Rs 50,000 each year to the sub-metropolis for 25 years,' said Bajracharya.

Dwarika Shrestha, a local at Lagankhel, is vexed at the sight of people crossing street randomly. He hopes the situation will improve after the construction of the bridges. 'The flow of traffic will be smooth and number of road accidents will reduce,' he said. The need of the overhead bridges was being raised by the locals for a long time, said Bajracharaya adding that the construction of three bridges would be completed before the end of July. The city mayor also plans to expand such projects to other parts of the city. 'Construction of each bridge is going to cost around Rs 2.5 million,' said an engineer. The width of the bridge will be 3 m and head clearance will be 5m leaving while the length of the bridges will allow space for four lanes of vehicles. The engineer said that the projects will utilise local manpower and the bridges will meet interantional standards.