Wooden bridges being installed on Chumbhyali trail, to open within days

Preparations are under way to restore passage within about 10 days on the trail to Chumbhyali in northern Gorkha by installing wooden bridges. Rural municipality chair Nima Lama said repair work on the necessary sections of the trail, blocked by landslides and floods, has been completed, and only the wooden bridges remain to be put in place.

Movement toward Chumchet and Chhekampar has come to a halt after floods swept away the cantilever bridge over the Syar Khola, a tributary of the Budhigandaki, at Sardibir in Chumnubri Rural Municipality-6.

Work is under way to bring the trail back into use by installing a temporary wooden bridge in place of the one that was swept away. According to Chair Lama, four wooden bridges in total will be installed on the trail, and the road to Chhekampar will open once they are ready.

However, he made clear that the wooden bridges will not solve the problem in the long run. For a lasting solution, he suggested that a cantilever bridge be rebuilt in the area, or else a new track be cut by blasting.