CDCL delivers a new Langchenphu Bridge after its collapse

The 140 feet long Langchenphu motorable bridge in Kurtoe under Lhuentse which collapsed just days to its completion is now ready after being reconstructed within a week.

The launching of bridge was completed on 2 February and it was officially inaugurated by the Lam Neten of Lhuentse dzongkhag and Lhuentse MP Karma Rangdoel.

The Regional Manager of Construction Development Corporation Limited (CDCL) Mongar, Karma Lotey said the bridge was constructed by the same materials used before and to prove the strength of the bridge they made heavy vehicles ply over it.

The Regional General Manager, in his earlier interview said they had followed the regular procedures with the same quality of launching nose that CDCL had used to construct 15 bridges.

Therefore CDCL, at the moment has no plans to change the materials to construct the bridges as the existing construction materials are worth Nu 40,000 per panel.

The Langchenphu Bridge is the 16th bridge the CDCL launched and those launched bridges had a span of over 150 -200 feet.

The construction of Langchenphu Bridge began last year and 90% of the works were completed. Unfortunately on 15 January the bridge collapsed and fell into the Kurichhu River.

When the incident occurred the CDCL people were carrying out paneling works on the bridge. At the time works on the first two paneling were done and it was during the third paneling, the bridge collapsed.

The reason cited at the time was the fixed launched nose had gotten old and the extreme stress during the third paneling resulted in the mishap.

During the extraction of the panels from the river eight panels were found damaged. They were replaced by CDCL immediately.

With the help of 17 technicians and operators on-site assembling and installing the panels, the work was completed within a week.

The construction was part of the gewog’s developmental activities and it was funded by the Dzongkhag. Therefore CDCL officials or the Local government officials were unaware of the budget allocated.

However the Gewog Administration Officer (GAO) Dupten Tshering in his earlier interview said including developmental activities of farm roads and bridges, the total budget comes around Nu 7mn.

In total 85 households of Dungkhar and Chagzam village will benefit with the completion of Langchenphu Bridge.

The completion of Bridge would supplement the transportation facilities in Kurtoe gewog since the road has almost reached the bridge and other parts of the road are also underway with the construction works.

The people in Kurtoe are now happy to see the completion of the bridge.