Money
Tamakoshi-bound trucks stranded due to bad road
Two big container trucks carrying equipment needed for the construction of the Upper Tamakoshi Hydropower Project have been stranded at Birgunj for the past one monthTwo big container trucks carrying equipment needed for the construction of the Upper Tamakoshi Hydropower Project have been stranded at Birgunj for the past one month as access to the project site has been cut off.
The heavy trucks cannot go to the construction site as the approach road and bridges have been damaged, and they remain parked at Parwanipur dry port. A driver belonging to Kumar Transport Services, New Delhi drove one of the vehicles from India to Nepal. Both the trucks are 18-wheelers. The vehicle and axle have a length of around 50 metres.
The truck drivers said that the damage caused to the road to Dolkha by the April 25 earthquake have made it difficult for them to drive there. “Some of the bridges on the route are just 10 feet wide. Moreover, the road and bridges have been damaged by the earthquake, so we are not able to proceed,” driver Ram Krishna said. “These axles have a width of 12 feet. How can we proceed?” The vehicle carries a load of 100 tonnes.
According to the other driver Om Pal, the vehicles had departed from Madhya Pradesh, India around eight months ago. “The earthquake struck Nepal when we reached Jhanshi on the border between Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh,” he said. “We were not aware about the situation of the bridges in Nepal. We got to know about them only after entering Nepal.” Pal said that since the vehicles were heavy and long, they have to drive at a maximum speed of 6-10 kilometres per hour. “There is a risk of accidents if we drive faster. Even if the road is good, we drive slowly. We travel around 10 km a day,” he said, adding that three similar vehicles had previously unloaded their cargo at Birgunj and returned.
“We have not found a godown large enough to store the heavy equipment. We cannot put these machines in a small godown as they would be exposed to rain,” Krishna said. “We don’t have the money to stay here for a long time. And we have heard that it will take a long time for the road to become okay. This has added to our woes.”