Construction work on a four-lane bridge across the Mahakali River in Kanchanpur district connecting Dodhara Chandani Municipality with Bhimdatta Municipality is nearing completion. Officials said around 92 percent of the work has been completed, and currently they are working on guide bunds (embankment).

“Filling work on the guide bund [flood embankment] on both sides of the bridge has been completed. Now we need to pour plum concrete on the embankment. The rest of the physical work of the bridge has been completed,” said Kishor Pandeya, the engineer of the Kumar Shrestha CFEC JV, the construction company involved in the project.

The guide bunds are under construction for the protection of a 2,600 metres long retention pond under the bridge. In the earlier design of the bridge project 98,700 cubic metres of stones, each weighing more than 250 kilograms, were required to construct the guide bunds. The design has been changed as the bridge project could not find the large boulders required.

However, the local people are concerned about whether the plum concrete embankment would be strong enough to resist the force of the river during flooding. Around two years ago, the flooded river swept away the approach roads of the bridge and floodwaters entered the settlements. The water flow was measured at 547,000 cusecs back then.

“The recently constructed plum concrete embankment can resist the water flow up to 585,000 cusecs. The embankment is capable of holding the floods like that of two years ago,” said Pandeya.

He claimed that the embankment, which is 2,600 metres long and seven metres high on both sides of the river, is quite strong.

The width of the Mahakali River where the bridge is situated is two kilometres. But the bridge is only 800 metres long. The embankment has been constructed to keep the river on course, said Pandeya.

The construction of 8 kilometres of access road from Gaddachauki of Bhimdatta to Malariya Nala in Dodhara Chandani has been completed. Only about 1,700 metres length of the road is yet to be blacktopped. “We will blacktop the road soon after we complete the guide bund work,” said Pandeya.

The town of Dodhara Chandani, which is connected to the bordering Indian town by a suspension bridge, could develop into a major border town with the construction of the motorable bridge. The bridge is considered a major infrastructure of the proposed Dodhara Chandani dry port.

During Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal India visit in May-June, an agreement was signed between the two countries to complete the construction of the dry port within three years.

It is expected that the dry port, once completed, will contribute to the industrial development in the western region by boosting the Nepal-India trade. The dry port will provide the shortest route to two key ports—Mundra Port, India's largest private port in Gujarat, and the Jawaharlal Nehru Port in Mumbai.