Mid-Hills Highway Project achieves 90% physical progress in Baglung

DHORPATAN: The Mid-Hills Highway Project has achieved 90% physical progress in Baglung district.

A 135-kilometer section of the 1,879-kilometer highway, which spans from Chiyo Bhanjyang of Panchthar in the east to Jhulaghat of Baitadi in the west, lies in Baglung district.

Kiran Subedi, the information officer of the Mid-Hills Highway Project Office, Parbat, said 122 kilometers of the 135 kilometers in Baglung have been blacktopped. “We have already blacktopped the 15-kilometer section in Nisikhola Rural Municipality and handed over the road to the Department of Roads,” Subedi said. “Blacktopping work remains only on the five-kilometer stretch from the Baglung district headquarters to Bayaldanda and another eight-kilometer stretch from Bayaldanda to Ghodabandeh.”

With the highway nearing completion, previously isolated areas like Nisikhola have now become accessible. Nisikhola Rural Municipality Chairperson Surya Bahadur Gharti Magar said the highway has been a blessing for the local residents as it directly connects them to the provincial capital, Pokhara, and the federal capital, Kathmandu.

“In the past, government employees were reluctant to work in Nisikhola. Residents had to take a week-long journey to reach the district headquarters. Now, not only can they reach the headquarters in a day, but also the federal capital,” Gharti Magar said. “The improved road access has boosted local trade, facilitated transportation, and significantly improved the living standards of thousands in this region.”

The Mid-Hill Highway through Baglung has enabled the operation of several daily and overnight bus services connecting Rukum East, Rukum West, Jajarkot, Dolpa, and other districts in western Nepal to the federal capital, Kathmandu.

(Translated from RSS)