HARIPUR: Long delay in the reconstruction of Chappar Bridge here has inconvenienced motorists and commuters.

The road users complained that said the authorities had failed to even begin the base work on the bridge, which connected hundreds of small and large countryside areas with the district headquarter.

They said the bridge’s northern portion measuring around 20 feet had caved in on April 26, 2018, killing two brothers riding a motorcycle and injuring two others.

Kala Khan of nearby Kag village said the residents had repeatedly complained to the authorities concerned about the bridge’s dilapidated condition but the latter’s indifference left to the bridge’s collapse and the subsequent death of two people and disruption of traffic.

After the bridge’s collapse, the Provincial Highway Authority diverted traffic of the busy Chappar Road to a pathway built in the middle of the Daur River by placing large drainpipes and throwing sand and soil on them.

As the pathway was not properly built, the rains inconvenienced motorists and commuters, who opt for the narrow Mankaraey Road to get an access to the Chapper Road and thus, causing problem for both traffic police and local residents.

The motorists said the road passed through thickly-populated areas, had educational institutions next to it and struggled to stand the load of two-way traffic. They said traffic jams on the 16 feet wide road were common during the rainy weather.

“The Mankaraey Link Road was built in early 70s for the residents of Mankaray and nearby villages but it is now in bad condition,” said Naeem Ahmed of Mohallah Saeedabad.

He said local MPA Akbar Ayub Khan was the minister for communication and works but he had yet to fulfil his promise of ensuring the reconstruction of Chappar Bridge or provision of an alternative route for Chappar Road-bound traffic.

Built on the Daur River in early 80s by the Frontier Works Organisation, the bridge connects hundreds of villages of Beer, Serae Nehmat Khan, Pind Hasham Khan, Ladarmang, Kalinjar and Gandaf union councils, while the vans and buses ply the same road. The bridgeprovides transport facilities to the commuters approaching scores of Abbottabad and Mansehra villages up to Darband and Torghar.

When contacted, sub-divisional officer of the Provincial Highway Authority Najib Khan said the reconstruction of Chappar Bridge was part the 2018-19 Annual Development Programme with an estimated initial cost of Rs180 million but the government had yet to disburse funds for it.

He said the project would be completed in two years.

The official said his department had made an alternative plan of constructing a diversion a little ahead of the broken bridge to the newly-constructed bridge of Haripur in the close proximity of the existing one.

He said the plan was likely to be executed within 10 days resolving the problem.

Published in Dawn, November 13th, 2018