CommunicationPublished on 9 November 2023

Building bridges for development

Swiss development cooperation has been helping Nepal build trail bridges since 1960. By standardising technology, teaching the required engineering and planning skills, and introducing a system of responsibilities at all levels of government, Nepal is able to mass produce infrastructure that makes everyday life for its citizens much easier.

Women working on the construction of the Ghurswaghat bridge in Kanchanpur. Women must be adequately represented on the users' committees. — © SDC/TBSU

The entire population is overwhelmingly in favour of trail bridges. The government would therefore be well advised to make this their priority. No other development project at this low cost would directly benefit so many people and in such a short space of time. (. . .) Nepal can only survive if it improves the country's roads and builds simple trail bridges so that pack animals can be taken across.

Toni Hagen (1917–2003) Observations on certain aspects of economical and social development problems in Nepal. UN, New York 1959. Zit. nach Richard Gerster, Hängebrückenbau in Nepal, 1980, S.1.