Poverty Alleviation through bridge building

Prof. John C. Badoux

Chairman of the board Zwahlen and Mayr Steel Construction, Member of the Board Stucky Engineering Energy Water
jean-claude.badoux@epfl.ch John C Badoux, born 1935, received his civil engineering degree from Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich & Institute of Technology Hanover, Germany and Ph. D from the Lehigh University Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. His has both industrial and teaching experience and had been in high positions in many organizations globally. He has been a member of many technical associations worldwide

From the standpoint of the world climate, and especially from the world climate change, the Himalaya Mountain Massif is extremely important. Actually the North Pole and the South Pole and the Himalaya third Pole are governing for the future of our world climate, including the ocean level here in Kolkata. Nepal is at the center of that. Because of the strong pressure of the India Plate lifting continuously the Tibetan Plateau and colliding with the (Chinese) Eurasia Plate, Nepal and Tibet are dangerous earthquakes regions. In 1934 a 8.0 (Richter) earthquake killed more than 20 % of the Kathmandu Valley inhabitants. Today more than two and half millions people live there and we know that there was a strong earthquake in Kathmandu every 75 years; so one is now overdue. Let us all be clear. Earthquakes in Nepal and Tibet, through huge slides and new lakes, can change definitively the actual course of any of the big rivers sourced there; and thus affect tremendously India and all of South East Asia. Nepal is yet using only one to two percents of its hydroelectrical enormous potential; so Nepal will, in the future, export a tremendous amount of clean, sustainable hydroelectricity to the entire region, including India. But this happy development must take into account the great instability, proven historically, of the Nepal and Tibetan mountains (Himalaya). It is in those precarious, difficult, instable conditions that live the majority of the Nepalis. It is where we have to help them to live, to stay, to get access to health, education and wealth. 80 % of Nepal are hills and mountains: young geology, high rainfall. 2000mm in average p.a. (locally up to 5000mm), most of it pours down during monsoon time of 4-5 months. Earthquake prone zone. Leads to an extremely fragile topography. It is inconceivable that vehicular transport will link all the rural settlements in the near future because the investment and maintenance costs in a landslide, erosion and seismic activity prone region are prohibitively high. Besides, the effects of vehicular roads on the fragile mountain ecology, environment and socio-economic and cultural life of the inhabitants can yield negative results. Walking along foot trails is the main, and often the only, mode of transport for more than two million hill dwellers on the move any time of the day. And for all them, every day, safe river crossings are an acute need not just for growth and development but for their very existence and survival. Nepal has a long tradition of constructing trail bridges. For centuries, communities have been building bridges across Himalayan rivers using indigenous technology. At the beginning of the 20th century, the government started to become involved in constructing bridges at key locations. It was however only in 1964-65 that systematic and planned construction started, including Swiss support that has since led to one of the most successful development partnerships in Nepal. By 2004, more than 3000 trail bridges for pedestrians had been constructed, including 2230 bridges through Swiss support with an overall length of more than 180 kilometres. This achievement corresponds to twice the total length of the 5800 bridges of the Swiss Federal Railways network. Every day, some 500000 people and 90000 animals now cross rivers safely. This saves millions of walking hours; children can go to school, and people can visit medical centres and temples, access public services, their fields and go to markets to buy and sell products more easily.

Evolution of the local Bridge Type : simple technology, appropriate to local capacity, suitable to terrain & transportation, economically feasible at local level. Especially suited to meet the high demand for short span crossings connecting numerous settlements in the hill areas of Nepal. The approaches must be socially and technically adapted to the capacities of the local communities. Today over 3600 safe, sturdy hanging bridges link riverbank throughout the country. The average daily traffic per bridge is 400 for Long Span Trail Bridges (LSTBs) and 150 for Short Span (SSTBs). Altogether, this leads to an average daily traffic volume of around 600000 persons on the 3600 bridges. In addition, some 90000 animals cross these bridges daily. The combined span of the 3600 bridges is more than 250 kilometers ! And some 200 bridges get added to the total every year ! Today, barring the remotest regions, on an average, a traveller need not make a detour of more than three hours at the most to come across a safe crossing. Community driven approach : the project only assists communities in the process and does not over support, this strategy promotes community ownership of the bridge which is important for maintenance Credo of Rural Reconstruction : go to the people, live among them, learn from them, plan with them, work with them, start with what they know, build on what they have, teach by showing, learn by doing, not a showcase, but a pattern, not odds and ends but a system, not piecemeal but integrated approach, not to conform but to transform, not relief but release. Most of Nepals traffic in the hills is still pedestrian traffic : the most remote trail bridge constructed so far is 22 portering day (I) from the nearest road head. The average daily traffic for people ranges from 150 crossings on short-span bridges to 400 per day on long-span bridges. This amounts to 250000 daily crossings on short-span bridges and 250000 on long-span bridges 500000 daily crossings in all on the 2230 bridges built with direct Swiss support. In addition, there are 90000 animal crossings each day. Economic benefits and costs : better access to fields and markets provides farmers, traders and porters with higher trading volumes, better prices, and increased income. Hence, bridges lead to poverty reduction. The total investment for the trail bridge programme in Nepal amounts to more than 100 million US dollars over the last 33 years. Of this, CHF 70 million are donor contributions from Switzerland. CHF 25 million was contributed by the Government of Nepal and some CHF 5 million from the communities. The Nepali share of contributions has now increased to over 50 % of new investments. Free labour was never a concept advocated by the supporting agencies, but community participation essentially meant foundation excavation, local materials collection (sand, stone, boulders), portaging of wire ropes and bridge parts and helping technicians during construction, which in other words meant unskilled free labour contributions.