With the monsoon season approaching, roads all over Nepal have suffered from severe landslides. One such road is the Narayanghat-Munglin road in Chitwan district which had finally been completed last month after years of upgrading and expansion works.
Commuters had thought that now the road would be in full operation, but just last week, several landslides have hit the road that connects Kathmandu Valley and Pokhara with the East-West Highway, resulting in massive traffic jams.
Therefore, engineers have begun their next assignment on the highway in a bid to solve the landslide problem permanently.
Narayanghat-Munglin Road Project’s Information Officer Shiva Khanal mentions that they are working on new techniques to deal with this problem. “We are looking at rock netting and rock bolting to see if we can stop this recurring problem,” he adds, hopping these techniques will help stop landslides in the area.
Rock netting is used to contain and control rock fall, protect against the effects of erosion and when combined with other methods, to improve stability.
A rock bolt, on the other hand, is a long anchor bolt, for stabilising rock excavations, which may be used in tunnels or rock cuts. It transfers load from the unstable exterior to the confined and much stronger interior of the rock mass.
According to Khanal, both of these techniques are being used in around a dozen areas along the Narayanghat-Muglin road. He also adds that everyone is working hard to make sure work finish before the end of the fiscal year.
