How safe are Nepal's suspension bridges?

On 30 October, a pedestrian bridge collapsed in the western Indian state of Gujarat, killing 141 people, most of them women, children and the elderly. Built during the British colonial period, the 137-year-old suspension bridge had reopened just five days earlier following repairs.

Overcrowding and hasty repairs were cited as the reasons for the tragedy, and this has prompted an assessment of Nepal’s own 9,767 pedestrian suspension bridges, used by millions of people every day all over the country. Their maintenance is often an afterthought and in many instances, they are in a dilapidated state after damage from floods and landslides.

There has also been a spurt of bridge-building over scenic Himalayan gorges connecting far-flung communities that have themselves become tourist attractions and selfie-spots. During festival time, there is also dangerous overcrowding of some of these bridges.

The construction and upkeep of Nepal’s infrastructure have never been a priority with inherent corruption and mismanagement of allocated funds being the norm rather than the exception. In fact, it is often easier for authorities to build newer sub-standard structure instead of maintaining old ones.

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“If a suspension bridge is not regularly maintained, it can collapse,” says construction expert Narendra Raj Joshi. “There has also been no study of broken or non-functioning bridges, so repairs have not been carried out properly.” 

“There is no chance of accidents like the Gujarat bridge collapse happening in Nepal,” says Pravesh Regmi, Engineer of the Suspension Bridge Department under the Ministry of Urban Development. “The bridges from the 1960s have a lifespan of 50 years.”

Many bridges in Nepal are now nearing their design lifespan, and pose a reason for concern. Besides age, they lack proper maintenance and study. And these become particularly dangerous during festivals and pilgrimages when hundreds of people cross them at the same time.

Pedestrian bridges are vital in connecting many villages in remote and roadless parts of Nepal. In addition to accessibility, bridges help get farm produce to market, transport the sick, and are important for children to attend school. Often times, they are the only way to do so in rural Nepal. They also allow connection to tourist destinations and religious places.

Every year, the Department of Local Infrastructure receives demands for hundreds of bridges, with a total of 594 have been constructed by the local and state governments with technical support from Helvetas Nepal in the past year.

“The bridges are either short or long, either suspension D-type, suspension N-type, or steel truss,” adds Pravesh Regmi. The suspension types are specific to the topography they are constructed in such a way that the D-type is for hills and mountainous terrain while the N-type is for the Tarai..

Experts agree that the government should be in charge of timely maintenance of the bridges. The collapse of a bridge does not just lead to loss of lives, but can isolate an entire area. However, the lack of a proper budget and policy has compromised the safe functioning of suspension bridges in many parts of Nepal.

Before Nepal transitioned into the federal political system, suspension bridges were monitored and maintained by caretakers or the District Development Committee. Now, repairs are carried out only if some nuts are loose or if the steel plates are missing. Local and provincial governments also lack data on bridges, making regular maintenance difficult to conduct.

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While division chief Bharat Aryal admits that some bridges have collapsed, but that was due to natural disasters. "We need to improve our policies regarding where to build bridges, what type, what materials to use," says Narendra Raj Joshi. "Before, bridges were used to mainly cross the rivers. Nowadays, people ride motorcycles on these old bridges. We need to examine previous standards of building bridges and change them as needed."

Further, the safety of a suspension bridge is determined by the geography and time it was built in: “Climate factors such as floods, landslides, earthquakes can also damage the foundation of a bridge,” adds Joshi.

Bharat Aryal concurs: “There should be policies to make local and state governments accountable. Suspension bridge constructions must be systemised and should be reported yearly.”

Translated from the Nepali original in himlkhabar.com by Aria Parasai.

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