Sita Ghartimar of Zaidi, Jaimini Municipality-7 of Baglung remembers that till seven years ago, she had to spend a whole day to reach the headquarters. It used to take three days to go to Butwal and return. In some cases, it has not been many years since I walked for two or three days.

But now, after the completion of the 44.5 km road from Gulmi Harmichour to Balewa in Baglung under the National Pride Kaligandaki Corridor Road Project, the headquarter can reach Baglung Bazar in two hours, she said.

'Seven years ago and now the condition of the road has changed so fast that we ourselves are shocked,' she said, 'Now we can feel that we are close to the markets of Baglung and Terai's Butwal, Bhairawa etc.'

The compulsion to travel by steamer from Mirmi is now gone. He said that he was able to travel on the black paper road. "If you got sick, you had to go for treatment after a lot of pain," he said. "Now that the tarmac road has been built in such a short period of time, it will be easy." has come From Hermichour to Rudraveni, the black paper has also been blacked out. 

The two-lane road has now become a black road after the difficult road was cut. This road has made it easy for the citizens of Gulmi and Baglung to deliver agricultural products to the market along with transportation facilities and the journey has also been shortened. Gulmi Urbanika Neupane, who is also a hotelier, said that they have started to cultivate goat rearing, vegetable farming, commercial dragon farming and other incomes near the road. 

According to him, passengers going to the holy shrine of Muktinath, Upper Mustang, through Baglung, Arbeni, Purtighat in Gulmi have started going back and forth. I used to do hotel business in Kathmandu. "I returned to Arbeni after it was said that the corridor road of Kaligand will be black paper," he said. Elsewhere, there is a problem of construction workers not completing the road work even for years, but the locals are also happy that there is no such problem in this section. Under the

corridor, Kalika Construction Pvt. Ltd., which has taken the contract for laying 44.5 km of tarmac, has completed the work about 7 months before the contract deadline. Kalika had signed a contract to make black paper at a cost of about 3 billion 330 million rupees. 

Kaligandaki Corridor Road Project Under the contract issued by Palpa Bertung, this section was agreed on 26th November 2079 and was to be completed on 25th November 2082. But Arun Khatri, Information Officer of Palpa Corridor Gaindakot-Ramdi-Maldhunga Road Project Office of Kaligand, said that the black paper work was completed seven months before the agreement. He said that

builders have completed 97 percent of the work according to the contract seven months before. "After more than 5 percent of the work was done, the black paper and other works were finished," he said.

Kalika did not stop the work despite not being able to pay crores of money, so the work was completed before the deadline. In some cases, Kalika's bill of up to 600 million could not be paid, the office said. "There is no need to pay the bill now, but the success has been achieved because the work has continued despite not being able to pay crores in between," he said, "In the financial year 2080/81, it was not possible to pay up to 58 crores." He said that they were able to complete the work ahead of time even on difficult roads such as floods and landslides where only the tracks were open.

"We were able to complete the work ahead of schedule because of the support we received in all aspects," he said.

The work of the builders has been accelerating since the beginning and it has been continued because the Kaligand corridor Gaindakot-Ramdi-Maldhunga Road Project Office Palpa Chief Kalpana Adhikari Subedi said that it was completed on time. According to him, the results have been positive due to maintaining smooth relations with the project office and construction professionals, not stopping the work despite the lack of budget. 97.5 percent of the work has been completed and the period of correcting road defects has already started.

The chief officer of the Kaligand Corridor (Gaidakot-Ramdi-Maldhunga) project said that only the road painting work remains. She said that a positive message was sent when the builder completed the work ahead of the agreed time. The construction of concrete bridges in some rivers of the 44.5 km road section has not progressed yet. The locals have been demanding that the construction of a concrete bridge over the river should be carried out as soon as possible.

Work on Ramdi-Ranimahal in full swing

Work on the Ramdi-Ranimahal road section of Palpa under the corridor road of Kaligand has gained momentum after the builders received payment in the financial year 2081/82. Under the project, 17 km road upgrading work has been accelerated. For this road, the Kaligandaki Corridor Project Office has taken a contract of Rs.

"After receiving the payment of the work done on time, the work has now continued," said Arun Khatri, information officer of the project. After the contract was awarded, the office said that road upgrading work is being done by dividing various sectors in this section from the new builders. 

Dolraj Adhikari of Yamgha Mazheta said that seeing the businessmen working quickly has given hope to the local residents. Subedi, Chief Planning Officer of Project Office Palpa, said that the work done by the builders in the Ramdi Ranimahal road section was satisfactory in the initial stage. 

There is still confusion as to what to do in the 400 meters of Siddhababa Temple area near Ramdi Bazaar (Siddharth Highway) in this section.

Baglung's Balewa-Maldhunga is slow

From Balewa to 10 km Maldhunga, black sheet and slope work is being done. Khadgakrishna VN JV Construction Company has also completed 65 percent of the contract for making black sheets and slopes.

It is difficult to complete the work within the specified period due to the slowness of the construction workers. The office said that it is helping the businessmen. In most of the parts, the work of the subbase has been completed, while in some places, the base has also been placed.  Under the

corridor project, the project has said that no contracts have been awarded except for the repair of landslides under the Gaindakot-Ramdi-Maldhunga road section. Out of 131 km from Gandakot to Pipaldanda in Palpa, only 3.8 km is unpaved. 

in which 1.7 kilometers have problems due to landslides, while 2.1 kilometers have not been blacklisted due to other reasons. According to the project office, the road has washed away in some places. The road section of 21 km from Reddy to Hermichaur in Gulmi has been blacked out. 

There is a DLP period and it will be handed over to the road division after the expiry of the period. In this section, the place where the culvert is placed is being changed and the slab is being placed. Palpa's Ramdi Pipaldanda-Rampur-Gaidakot road has been handed over to the division. He said that the road from Ranimahal to Argali has also been handed over to the division.