Tikapur. The construction of a bridge over Sankatti Ghat along the Karnali River linking Kailali and Bardiya districts has reached the final stage.

An agreement has been reached with the construction company with the government of Nepal to complete the bridge by October 1, 2083 BS, said engineer Dhirendra Sahani, an engineer at the contractor company. “We started the construction work in 2080 BS after conducting survey after signing an agreement in Poush 2079 BS. ”

All the pillars of the 14-pillar bridge have been completed and work is underway on the 12th span. According to him, the work of the 13th span is expected to start within the next 15 days. Along with the span, the work of embankment on the Kailali side is also going on simultaneously.

As the construction of the bridge is nearing its final stage, people are now crossing the river using half the bridge and half the river road. As the water of the river has been diverted, the people have to cross the river with the help of boats as before. Bharat BK of Tikapur of Kailali said he was crossing the river using his own vehicle. “We were compelled to cross the river by boat by paying money, but now it has ended,” he said, adding, “The completion of this bridge will bring a lot of relief to the people of Kailali and Bardiya.” ”

Another resident Janak Bahadur Bista is happy to be able to cross the river using his own vehicle as the bridge construction is nearing its final stage. “Most of us people of Kailali have farming in Bardiya and we are compelled to commute regularly,” he said, adding, “We have faced a lot of difficulties in the past due to the lack of bridges. ”

People from Kailali have farming in Bardiya while people from Bardiya go to Tikapur for shopping and treatment. The bridge will not only connect the two districts but also the far-flung and Lumbini provinces, said Jhapat Kadayat, a local. “We used to travel via Satti bridge as it was scary to travel by boat,” he said, adding, “Now, the distance to Bardiya will be reduced by 20 kilometers.” ”

Karan Chaudhary of Geruwa Rural Municipality-1, Sarkhol in Bardiya district has also been able to travel to Kailali and Bardiya. Earlier, the one-way journey used to take one and a half to two hours but now the two-way journey is completed in one hour. “It has been very convenient to cross the river in such a smooth manner before the bridge is not completed,” he said, adding, “The bridge should be completed before the coming monsoon and an environment would be created for the movement of big vehicles in an easy manner.” ”

The length of the bridge is 752 meters long and the width of the bridge is 11 meters, of which 7.5 meters will be pedestrian.

The contractor had signed an agreement with the government on January 31, 2008 to complete the bridge construction by October 31, 2008. As per the agreement, construction of 500-metre access road on both sides of the bridge and 1,015-metre river control on both sides is underway.

Earlier, people from these two districts had been using the Karnali Bridge at Chisapani and the Satti Ghat Bridge on the Postal Highway as alternatives. With the construction of the bridge, there will be three bridges over the Karnali River linking Kailali and Bardiya. A bridge was constructed at Karnali Chisapani in 2050 BS as a gateway to the far west and a bridge at Sattighat on the Karnali river linking Tikapur and Rajapur municipalities in 2073 BS are in operation.