Road damage at Liping risks trade and settlement

Kathmandu, June 30

Road authorities are struggling to repair a damaged portion of Arniko Highway in Liping in Sindhupalchok district and open a track for the transportation of goods to and from Tatopani border. However, undercutting of the Bhotekoshi River has made that task an uphill battle.

The Department of Roads (DoR) has sent machines to the place that was damaged in the heavy rains a couple of weeks ago, but cracks in the villages above the roads have compounded the problem.  

“The chances of constructing a retaining wall are slim due to the undercutting of the river, while deeper cutting in the hill could put the village at risk,” said Arjun Jung Thapa, Director General of the DoR. He said that the department was in a fix about continuing the repair work.

A day-long progress would surely come to naught should heavy rains occur at night because the newly opened track would be damaged by the landslide.

According to Thapa, three heavy equipment are at work at the site. “Only 40-metre road is damaged. Our machines open the track in the day but the rain in the night damage it again. There is a very difficult situation,” he said.

If the situation continued, the road wouldn’t be ready for vehicular movement until the monsoon season is over. The machines have opened about 20-metre track on Wednesday.

The village above has about 500 residents and their lives couldn’t be put at stake for the road, said Thapa.

 

He said that the department did not get the support from the local representatives, people as well as the police in maintaining the major trade route to the Chinese border.

He stated that the locals have submitted a memorandum to the department expressing concerns, but the local bodies have asked for royalty for the stones and pebbles collected from the Bhotekoshi River, the border between the two countries.

The damage point is one of the 16 locations that China had agreed to repair under the grant support and was handed over to the Chinese team some months ago. But the locals did not allow the Chinese technicians and workers to repair the road.

“Now the operation of the road depends on luck. If there is no heavy rain to cause landslide, it could be brought into operation within a couple of days, else we have to wait for a couple of months,” said Thapa.

However, some medical emergency goods are being carried to this side of the landslide through a rope way. Meanwhile, a trail is developed for people and goods to pass across the landslide.  

President of Nepal Chamber of Commerce, Rajendra Malla, said that the damaged road at Liping is likely to cause trouble to the traders as it has hindered the supply of goods.

Due to poor road connectivity and border obstructions, Tatopani witnessed Rs. 5.29 billion imports and no exports, accounting for only 0.38 per cent of country’s total imports in the 11 months of Fiscal Year 2020/21.

The size of imports from China through Tatopani was Rs. 9.53 billion in FY 2019/20, Rs. 485 million in FY 2018/19 and Rs. 618 million in FY 2017/18. Nepal exported goods worth Rs. 137.6 million to China in FY 2019/20.

Most parts of the 115 km-long Arniko Highway connecting Tatopani with the capital city Kathmandu had witnessed massive damages in Sindhupalchowk in the 2015 Earthquake.

 Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 1 July 2021.