[Belt&Road] Saving the Arniko

On April 25, 2015, an 8.1-magni-tude earthquake struck Nepal, causing severe damage to the Arniko Highway, a crucial transport link with China. Connecting Lhasa in China’s Tibet Autonomous Region to the Kodari port on Nepal’s border, and then to its capital city of Kathmandu, the 943-kilometer China-Nepal Highway functions as the only international thoroughfare stretching from Tibet to Nepal and Southeast Asia.

The China-Nepal Highway runs through the slope-deposit areas of the Himalayas, where deep valleys and steep mountains are faced with the risk of frequent earthquakes. Intensive precipitation shakes the ground in the mountains, and natural disasters such as landslides, rock falls and mud-rock flows block the highway at times.

Initially, emergency maintenance helped to improve conditions. After another quake hit on July 5, 2016, the flooded upper bank of the Bhote Kosi River tumbled down to the road in a landslide, affecting many sections of the Arniko Highway. Transport was blocked entirely. A miserable scene emerged as the houses along the highway collapsed. Some local residents had to be sheltered in temporary tents pitched higher up the mountain, and aid materials could only be delivered by hand.

At Nepal’s request, China performed emergency maintenance on the five sections hit by landslides, paving the road for reconstruction and sustained bilateral trade, after exchanges of diplomatic notes on June 21 and July 29, 2016.

Upon receiving the mission, the overseas operations division of the China Railway 14th Bureau Group began maintenance on August 8, 2016. The rainy season challenged the workers, adding the removal of obstacles to their workload, as the mountainsides along the Arniko Highway are mostly made up of decomposed rocks. No matter how often the roads were cleared, constant aftershocks and rainfall covered them with mud and rocks once again, depositing piles of mess. The construction team had no choice but to repeat their work. Some of the affected areas were filled with expansive soil that turned into sludge once it absorbed water, which made it diffcult to compact. The company’s technology team decided to clean up the road frst before substituting new filling materials for the expansive soil.

The workers were also confronted with huge safety threats. The Arniko Highway winds up along the mountains, an awesome scene, with steep cliffs on one side and a raging river on the other. Recalling the dangerous experience he went through during the maintenance, Dong Guangxian, a project manager with the overseas operations division of the China Railway 14th Bureau Group, said, “The machinery had to reach the top in order to remove the mud-and-rock mess. The challenges were enormous in some sections. It was difficult enough for a person to climb up the piles with both arms and legs free, let alone with large machines. The mountains do not stand on pure rock, but mixed layers of sand and rock. Once a sand layer shakes, a collapse is hard to avoid. Big rocks fell off quite often during construction, making it hazardous for workers. The excavators narrowly escaped slips several times, and found it extremely hard to reach the top.”

With the added burden of a tight schedule, the technology team rented local houses for offices so that they could stay close to where the construction was taking place. Facing tough conditions and a lack of materials, the workers slept in houses with cracks on the walls. Even a hot shower was too much to realistically hope for. All the 35 Chinese workers and over 90 local employees stuck to the construction sites until the entire road resumed operation.

Despite the hardships lasting more than five and a half months, the repair work of the Arniko Highway was completed at the end of January 2017. The construction team fixed the 6.7-kilometer-long road, cleaned up 382,664 cubic meters of mud and rock, and built up eight pipe culverts and 2.5-kilometer-long guard fences. Daily maintenance of the Arniko Highway was handed over to the Nepalese government after an official delivery of the maintenance project from China to Nepal in Kathmandu on March 3.

Although the first phase of road maintenance has been completed, the technicians and machines from the Chinese company are still there for emergency needs. “The rainy seasons come in Nepal around the same time every year, and the risk of road blocks by mud-rock flows is always there. We will spare no efforts to help with cleaning work and road maintenance, to ensure convenient transport for the locals.”

Vehicles returned to the Arniko Highway as it was restored to smoothness, with a daily vehicle volume of around 800. The town is bustling again as the local residents return to peace. Coaches on the highway now take them directly from the mountainous areas to Kathmandu. Trucks pass through, packed with materials for post-disaster reconstruction.

Local residents showed gratitude to the maintenance workers, and the drivers passing by would salute cheerfully to the Chinese workers. “The local residents were a big help to us. They offered us tea every time we walked by. They never hesitated to help us during our geographic inspections, no matter how rough the mountainous lanes were, and regardless of the mud stains splashed on their clothes.”

Friendships were built as the way was paved. The locals expressed their thanks to the Chinese workers for their courage and diligence. They presented the construction workers with hada, a piece of silk that symbolizes good luck.