Contractor builds 268-metre suspension bridge in a month after floods cut off communities

Shailendra Raj Pyakurel tapped the construction industry’s own fund to build a vital crossing over the Trishuli river for Rs17.5 million, nearly half the government’s estimate.

When the Bhotekoshi flood tore through Nuwakot on August 26, construction contractor Shailendra Raj Pyakurel was at the district office of the Federation of Contractors’ Associations of Nepal in Bidur. As reports came in that the torrent had swept through Trishuli Bazar and Dhunge, he tried to call home. No one could be reached.