Longest bridge takes longer time

The construction of Amochu Bridge between Samtse-Phuentsholing highway is progressing. Once complete, the bridge will mainly benefit the people of Tading Gewog under Samtse Dzongkhag. It will be the longest bridge in the country with a span of 175 metres.

However, the construction of Bridge, scheduled to be complete by September last year, is still in its initial phase.The Department of Roads had taken over the project about four months ago.

More than 50 kilometres of the highway from Samtse towards Phuentsholing has been complete.  The villagers are already using the highway that has reached one end of the river on Samtse Dzongkhag side. And the bridge is one of the missing links in between apart from the road leading to Phuentsholing town from the bridge which is yet to be constructed.

For now, people use the suspension bridge over Amochu to cross the river. They hire a taxi till one end of the road, cross the bridge to get to the other side and then take another taxi from there.

“We transport our loads till Bangay by car. From there we have to carry them on our backs. And at times, especially in summer, road is not accessible even till Bangay. During such times we have to carry the loads all the way from Phuentsholing. The bridge will definitely make our lives convenient,” says S.B Tamang, a local resident.

“Once the bridge is complete, we can drive our vehicles till Phuentsholing and even in summer if there are landslides, we won’t face any problem as we can still drive our car across the river,” says Sonam Dorji Doya, another local resident.

The bridge, according to the initial plan, was scheduled to be complete by September last year. Why has it taken so long?

According to the Project Manager the contractor who took up the project failed to keep up the pace of the project as expected. Jangchuk Yeshi said the Ministry then took charge of the project from November last year.

“We managed to start the work here by end of November because till then the site was not accessible by vehicle and we had to make a temporary road from Phuentsholing to here and after that only we could start the work. And as per our work plan we plan to complete the works by end of April,” says Jangchuk Yeshi.

Since the ministry took up the job, the work speed has accelerated despite the minor hitches in procurement of raw materials and supply of laborers.

“Due to close proximity to the border, the laborers just come and go. So the supply is highly erratic. One day we have so many laborers and other day the site is almost empty. And these are some things beyond our control and the problems we are grappling with,” the project manager added.

The Nu.180 million worth project has been divided into two phases. The first phase includes the construction of support pillars by the Department of Road. The other phase is the construction of main structure of the bridge.

“For constructing a bridge of such complexity, we need specialist equipment,” says Jangchuk Yeshi, adding that it was going to be expensive for the department. “That’s why it was decided that the construction of the steel structure of the bridge be given to a contractor.”

The tender for steel structure construction was floated twice.

The first notice inviting tender was floated in October last year. No contractors took part. It was re-tendered in December the same year during which only two contractors turned up. But in a technical presentation by the lowest bidder, the ministry was not satisfied with the technical competence of the contractor.

According to sources, the ministry will now call for limited bidding where the ministry will invite at least three contractors to bid for the work. The ministry is already working on it.

A state of the art, the Amochu Bridge, once complete, will be the longest bridge in the country with a span of 175 metres.