Kathmandu, August 22

The Department of Roads (DoR) has sought Rs 420 million immediately to repair the infrastructure damaged by the recent floods and landslides triggered by the heavy monsoon rain across the country.

According to Gopal Sigdel, director general of DoR, the department needs the said amount to normalise the transportation system in the highways that have been damaged by floods and landslides. “Some bridges and road sections must be repaired promptly to normalise vehicular movement,” he clarified at the meeting of Development Committee of Legislature-Parliament today.

The floods and landslides have highly affected multiple sections of the Mahendra Highway, Dharan-Bhedetar section of Dharan-Dhankuta road and the Mugling-Narayangadh road section. “Multiple sections of some busy highways of the country have been affected by the landslides and floods,” he said.

According to him, the recent calamity in the last few weeks has destroyed infrastructure related to roads worth about Rs four billion, as per the preliminary study of DoR. Floods and landslides have affected strategic roads, local roads under the aegis of DoR and bridges across the country.

The recent natural disasters have caused damages worth Rs 3.14 billion to strategic road networks. Likewise, damages worth Rs 260 million have been inflicted on roads being supervised by the Department of Roads across the country by the floods and landslides.

Sigdel further added that damages amounting to Rs 200 million have been inflicted on 30 bridges along strategic roads and other road sections across the country. Out of the 30 damaged bridges, two cannot be repaired and would have to be completely rebuilt.

After holding discussions with representatives of various concerned government authorities, the House panel has directed the Ministry of Finance to allocate the required budget for road maintenance.

Pointing at the cases of faults in the designs of the bridges, the parliamentary committee has directed the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport to ensure such lapses are not repeated in the future.