KATHMANDU: With the onset of the monsoon, the government has placed 277 units of heavy equipment on standby on major roads to respond to road blockages caused by floods and landslides. The equipment includes bulldozers, excavators, loaders, tipper trucks and cranes.
According to Bhuwan Adhikari, the deputy director general of Department of Roads, 154 machines have been stationed in areas identified as high-risk for landslides. The remaining 123 are kept at various road offices across the country.
Adhikari added that the DoR is in a position to dispatch equipment to affected sites within 15 minutes to one hour of receiving information. “We can not predict exactly where a blockage might occur, but we are ready to respond swiftly. In most cases, the machines can reach the site within an hour,” he said.
Each machine comes with a trained operator and backup personnel for emergencies, he added.
The machines have been stationed at major hubs cities like Itahari, Janakpur, Hetauda, Kathmandu, Pokhara, Butwal, Nepalgunj and Godavari (Kailali).
The Division Road Offices and the Federal Road Supervision and Monitoring Office have been authorized to mobilize the equipment and manpower as needed, according to the DoR.
Additionally, the department has 15 Bailey bridges on standby for emergency deployment in case bridges are damaged or washed away in the flods. The bridges are 36-70 meters long and 4.2-7.35 meters wide.
Eight of the bridges are stored in Hetauda, while the others have been kept in Damauli, Shivapur, Lahan, Butwal, Sanfebagar, Surkhet and Jumla.
