Composite wall effective in river control

Beni: The composite wall used to protect Beni bazaar, the headquarters of Myagdi district from floods has proved effective. The Rupatal protection integrated development project had started building a composite wall to save Beni bazaar from the Kaligandaki and Myagdi rivers this fiscal year.

Prior to this concrete, gabion and machinery walls were being constructed on the river bank. The technology of composite wall including RCC foundation and machinery or gabion wall on the top has proved successful, said chairperson of ward no. 8 in Beni municipality, Ram Krishna Baraili. Such wall has not been damaged by the floods, hence the construction of the wall will continue in the coming fiscal year.

The foundation has been constructed two meters below the surface of the river and a four meter wide RCC wall has been constructed, said the project engineer Krishna Biswakarma. The wall towards Mangalaghat has a three meter high machinery wall while a 3.5 meters high gabion wall has been constructed towards the Kalipul area.

However, the gabion wall constructed earlier behind Sangam chowk and Kalipul buspark area has been damaged by the flooded Kaligandaki river on Tuesday night. A similar concrete wall had been damaged by the Kaligandaki river floods in 2017. Nevertheless, the composite wall remains unmoved.

This year the project is investing 30 million rupees in Beni, Myagdi and 20 million rupees in Beni, Parbat for the river control works. A 45 meter long and 6 meter tall concrete wall has been constructed in Jaljala rural municipality.

The project under the Ministry of Energy, Irrigation and Water Resources has been working since the past three years to control the river in Beni.