At the foundation stone laying ceremony, Minister Pun said Rs 70 million has been allocated for completing the construction of the bridge within a year. [break]
He pledged to ensure that money does not pose a problem in the bridge construction and informed that construction would begin immediately as the tender award process has already been concluded.
The construction of the Simkot-Hilsa road was initiated 15 years ago. But construction could not gather pace due to the absence of the bridge connecting Humla with Tibet.
In absence of the bridge, construction material for building the road has to be delivered by helicopters, making the material expensive, and thereby exacerbating fund scarcity.
The delivery of material from Nepalgunj to Humla costs Rs 220 per kg by helicopter and Rs 125 per kg by plane.
Hilsa is the main customs point in Humla and procuring construction material from Tibet would be easier after the bridge is built. Building the bridge connecting Simkot with Hilsa will make it possible to import construction material from Tibet and bring down the cost of delivery to Rs 20 per kilogram.
Jeewan Shahi of Nepali Congress party who took the initiative for building the road said that the bridge as well as the road would be completed within seven months. Once the road is ready, Humla will be connected to Kathmandu by road.
Hilsa is 1,200 km from Kathmandu by road.
Of the 19 vehicles that operate every day along a 35-kilometer road from Tibet to Humla´s Muchu VDC, one is a tractor with a Nepali registration number and the rest are Chinese-owned vehicles.
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