Three years after a contract was awarded to build the much-publicised Narayani iconic bridge, physical progress on the project remains minimal, with only foundation work underway.

The contract for the bridge, which will connect Narayangarh and Gaindakot, was signed with Tundi Construction on June 2, 2023. Under the agreement, the company was required to complete the design within a year and finish construction within the following three years.

However, repeated revisions to the design delayed approval until November last year, more than a year behind schedule.

“The design approval was delayed by around 16 months due to modifications,” said Santosh Bhandari, site engineer at the Division Road Office in Bharatpur. “That delay has directly affected construction progress.”

The bridge, popularly known as a “signature bridge” but officially classified as an “iconic bridge”, was formally launched with a foundation stone-laying ceremony attended by the then prime minister and ministers more than two years ago. Despite that, commuters say little visible progress has been made.

Gita Paudel, who travels daily across the existing Narayani bridge between Gaindakot and Narayanghat, said she has been hearing about the replacement project for years.

“I saw the prime minister and ministers lay the foundation stone, but the work appears very slow,” she said. “I hope the new bridge is completed before anything happens to the old one.”

She said the ageing bridge in use often vibrates under heavy traffic and occasionally becomes congested when large vehicles break down on it.

“For such an important crossing, construction should move much faster,” she said.

The new bridge is being built alongside the existing Narayani bridge, whose foundation stone was laid in 1981. Although the East-West Highway has been widened over the years, the old bridge has remained unchanged, creating a bottleneck for traffic.

According to Bhandari, construction of the two main towers has yet to begin. Concrete testing of the foundation pile for the tower on the Narayanghat side has been completed, but load testing is still pending.

Work is currently focused on the abutment foundation on the Narayanghat side. Each abutment requires eight piles extending 35 metres underground.

“Two piles have been completed, and work on the third is underway,” Bhandari said. “Once work on this side is finished, construction of the abutment on the Gaindakot side will begin.”

He said tower construction is unlikely to begin during the monsoon and is expected to start after the rainy season.

The bridge is estimated to cost Rs1.68 billion. It will have two towers positioned 100 metres from each abutment and a 220-metre span between them. The total bridge length will be 420 metres, and the structure has been designed to allow water transport beneath it.

Despite the scale of the project, officials acknowledge that overall physical progress remains negligible.

“Foundation work is still in its early stages,” Bhandari said. “In terms of overall construction, progress is close to zero.”