The federal government’s project under the Narayani River Management Project is all set to complete the construction of a massive embankment along the Narayani River on both East Nawalparasi and Chitwan sides.

With the objective of controlling floods in the river, the Narayani River Management Project has been constructing seven metres high embankments, which will be 21 km long on the Chitwan side and 9 km long on the East Nawalparasi side. There will be 7.5 metres wide gravelled roads on top of the embankments.

Floods in the Narayani River, one of the three major river systems in Nepal, wreak havoc in the settlements every monsoon in Bharatpur Metropolitan City of Chitwan and in Gaindakot, Devchuli, Kawasoti and Madhyabindu municipalities and Binaya Triveni rural municipality in East Nawalparasi. Many people die and properties are lost in the floods.

In East Nawalparasi, the embankment construction work is going on in around four km stretch currently. According to the project, around Rs1.27 billion has been allocated for the work on the East Nawalparasi side in the current fiscal year of 2022-23. Construction work here started three years ago.

“The Narayani River Management Project plans to construct a 9-km-long embankment in the flood-prone areas of four local units in East Nawalparasi. The work will be completed within two years if everything goes as planned,” said Shankar Budhathoki, the senior divisional engineer at the project.

According to Budhathoki, big concrete blocks have been laid on the riverside that work as spurs to control flooding.

The project aims to construct a corridor along the river from Narayani bridge—which links Gaidakot of East Nawalparasi with Narayanghat of Chitwan—to Tribenidham of East Nawalparasi. The locals are hopeful that the gravelled road will be blacktopped in the near future and developed as an alternative road.

Nepali Congress leader Shashank Koirala, who was elected to the House of Representatives from East Nawalparasi-1 in 2022, prioritised the embankment construction in his election pledge.

The local people are hopeful that the embankments will protect the settlements from floods and also improve the transportation network. “The completion of the embankment project with corridor roads will beautify the Narayani River and also promote tourism activities in the area,” said Gopi Kandel, the ward chairman of Gaidakot Municipality-17.

Similarly, on the Chitwan side, the embankment construction is going on from Narayanghat to Meghauli. According to the Narayani River Management Project, the embankment construction is currently going on in an eight-km stretch in Chitwan. A total of Rs 2.25 billion was allocated for the embankment construction work on the Chitwan side in the current fiscal year.