Humla headquarter Simkot is connected to the national road network. Simkot is connected to the national road network as soon as the bailey bridge is constructed on the Chuvakhola Karnali river located in Kharpunath village-5. The official inauguration of the bridge is scheduled to be done by Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli on June 22.

The Nepali Army completed the construction of the bridge in 35 days with a budget of nearly 40 million. Humli's road dream has been fulfilled after 26 years.

After the Nepali Army opened the road track in the last week of March last year, 269 kilometers of road transport means  started running . But Humla was not connected to the national road network because there was no bridge at Chuwakhola. "As soon as the bridge is built in Kharpu, it will be possible to go from the Indian city of Rupaidiha to Hilsa on the Chinese border in one vehicle," said Narayan Pandey, the chief district officer of Humla, "Before there was no bridge, vehicles had to be operated in 3 sections, passengers were facing high fares." According to him, the distance from the Indian city of Rupaidiha to the Chinese border to Hilsa is about 505 kilometers The Karnali Corridor, which starts from Khulalu in Kalikot, also connects Bajura and Humla.

In the year 2054, after about 50 local people lost their lives due to a viral infection that spread along with starvation in Humla, the then District Development Committee planned to connect the road with China for a permanent solution to the food shortage. Jiwan Bahadur Shahi, the then chairman of Jiwis and former Chief Minister of Karnali, said that digging of Simkot-Hilsa road was started in 2057 using the internal resources of Jiwis. According to him  Since 2008, the World Food Program has continued the road by conducting the 'Food for Work Program', while the Remote Area Development Committee has spent 700,000 rupees on the road. Similarly, from 2059 to 2065, Jivis spent 68 million rupees and continued the construction of the road.

_{Bellybridge built on Chuvakhola Karnali River at Kharpunath in Humla under the Karnali Corridor. Photo: Kantipur}

The central government caught the eye of the road only after 12 years when the then Jiwis started building the road. The government established the Hilsa-Simkot road project office in 2069 and made the Simkot-Hilsa road a part of the Karnali corridor. Shahi said that the road has only picked up speed since then. According to him, the government had entrusted the task of road construction to the Nepali Army from Chaitra 5, 2071.

Padam Bahadur Shah, president of the Karnali Province Industry and Commerce Federation, said that it is expected to help the development of the entire Karnali Province as soon as the Karnali Corridor is completed. According to him, as soon as the road is built, most of the districts of Karnali from Hilsa in China will be connected to Rupaidia in India. "Now we can get commercial benefits by establishing relations with China and India," he said, "It will also be easy to build infrastructure for other development, economic transactions will increase along with employment." "It is necessary for the government to start a diplomatic initiative soon and develop this road as a commercial route," he said, "which will help in marketing local products by creating enough employment opportunities."

upgrade works in full swing 

Under the Karnali Corridor, road upgrading is currently being done through two planning offices. 123 kilometers in the south section (Khulalu-Salisalla) and 146 kilometers in the Salisalla-Hilsa road scheme under the north section are being upgraded . According to the project office, road widening, retaining walls, gravel and black sheeting are in progress in 5 sections including Pilichour-Tumch, Tumkot-Hilsa, Elbang-Chyachda, Chyachda-Hekpakhola, Kuwadi-Tumch.

Tumkot-Gajurmukhi/Shivashakti JV has taken the contract in the financial year 2079/80 for the construction of a seven and a half meter wide road with a drain on a 35 meter road in Hilsa section. was . Omprakash Kohar, information officer of the planning office, said that the company extended the deadline twice, and for the last time, the deadline remained until July. According to him, Ashish Construction had taken the contract 2 years ago to upgrade the road on 17 km under the Elbang-Chyachha section. His term is till the end of March. Likewise, road upgrading work is being done on 10 km of Chyachda-Hekpakhola section. The contract was awarded in the financial year 2079/80 and the deadline was extended for one year so that the work could be completed by July. Upgradation work is being done in these two sections with a budget of nearly 100 million rupees. 330 million rupees budget has been allocated this year for road upgrading in the northern section, and 400 million rupees has been allocated for the next year . He informed that the construction of 4 bridges has been completed in this section.

Track construction is being done on 11 km under the Khulalu-Sallisalla road in the south section. Currently, the Nepali Army is working on track construction in that section as the means of transport are being operated through alternative roads. According to the road construction task force of the Nepali Army, out of the 11 km section, track opening is being done on 7 and a half km road this year. For which the government has allocated 10 crore rupees . Army is also doing road upgrading work in Bokchegowda, Bhiegowda and Yangchu Bhir. The road widening and grading work is being done by breaking the hard rocks. According to the army, road upgrading is being done using explosives due to the hard rocks. 

Khulalu-Sallisalla section 50 km road is currently being upgraded with black paper, said Tularam Sharma, engineer of the road construction project. According to him, PS Construction has taken the contract for 1 billion 10 million rupees for black paper on the road of about 23 kilometers of Pilichour-Tumch section. He has already signed an agreement on June 15th to build a seven and a half meter wide road with a canal, grade and level matching and blacktop within 3 years . According to the planning office, one billion rupees has been allocated for this section, which has a budget of 35 crores this year. Likewise, Contech Singh and Brothers JV has taken a contract for 1.18 billion rupees to blacktop the 27 km road of Kuwadi-Tumch section with upgrading. Planning chief Sharma said that he has also taken charge of the upgrading so that the construction work can be completed within 3 years. After the completion of these two sections, Karnali Corridor  The first section will be blacklisted, we have advanced the file to blacklist the Kalikot section as well,' he said, 'the necessary process will start from the next financial year.'

10 bridges built, 8 bridges yet to be built. Under the

corridor, 6 in the south section and 4 in the north section, 10 rivers and Belybridges have been constructed on the Karnali River. 8 more bridges are left to be constructed. In the south section, the construction of Beili Bridges has been completed at Khulalu, Phugad, Sannigad, Jittikhola, Baddigad, Kuwadi and Sallisalla. Planning chief Sharma said that the process of constructing a concrete bridge by displacing the belay bridge in those rivers has been started and the contract is in the process. Similarly, information officer Kohar said that although the bridge construction work has been completed in Chuwakhola, Sallikhola, Tagrukhola and Hekpakkhola in the north section, the construction of bridges in Sarkegad, Nyasikhola and Syamnekhola is yet to be completed. "At present, the means of transport are being constructed and the means of transport are being operated, on the basis of priority, concrete bridges will be constructed gradually," he said, "Along with the upgrading of the road, the means of transport will be operated up to Hilsa within twelve months after the completion of the bridge construction work in Sabe Thau."