What you should know
Due to the low budget, the construction work of Mahakali 'Corridor' has been affected. Corridor construction work is slow due to lack of budget, cutting of trees etc.
In the current fiscal year 2082/83, a budget of 229.7 million rupees has been allocated for the construction of the corridor, said Deepak Sunar, Head of Planning of Mahakali Corridor Road (Brahmdev-Jhulaghat-Dachula-Tinkar Road) Planning Office.
'Under the plan, the office has to pay one and a half billion rupees', he said. Chief Sunar said that if the budget is received in this amount, it will take years to build the corridor.
From Brahmadev in Kanchanpur to Tusarpani in Darchula, out of 334 km, 54 km of 'track' is yet to be opened. Under the corridor, about 27 km of track in Dadeldhura, nine in Baitadi and 18 km in Darchula are yet to be opened. So far, about five kilometers of the corridor have been paved. The chief goldsmith said that although the work is going on with the contract for black paper in various places, due to the lack of budget, it is not possible to pay the builders.
Work is going on for road paving in Malikarjun and Khalanga-Hikila sections of Darchula. Under the Mahakali Corridor scheme, out of 334 km from Brahmadev in Kanchanpur to Tusarpani in Darchula, 11 km in Kanchanpur, 58 in Dadeldhura, 144 in Baitadi and 121 km in Darchula. The Nepali Army is working on opening the track on the 79 km road section from Tusarapani to Tinkar.
According to Chief Sunar, under the corridor, 11 km of roads will be constructed in Kanchanpur, 58 km in Dadeldhura, 144 km in Baitadi and 121 km in Darchula. Out of this, 11 km track has been opened in Kanchanpur, 28 km in Dadeldhura, 114 km in Baitadi and 77 km in Darchula.
The corridor, which started from the financial year 2065/66, is 413 kilometers long, connecting the four districts of Kanchanpur, Dadeldhura, Baitadi and Darchula of the Far Western Province to Pillar No. 1 on the Nepal-China border. About eight lakh people living in the area will directly benefit from this road and its commercial importance is even more because it is a tri-national border. The initial total cost estimate of the project was 18.16 billion rupees. Although the target is to be completed by the financial year 2080/81, the cost and time of the plan are increasing due to lack of budget, tree felling and other procedural problems.
