Kathekhola Rural Municipality has started road construction by setting local standards after the risk to the settlement increased while building the road. After preparing its own road master plan, the municipality has banned the construction of houses and huts against the standards.

22 km of road within the municipality is listed as a mid-hill highway. This section falls under the Federal Road and Mid-Hill Highway Project Office. Here, the dispute over standards still persists. But the standards are strictly implemented on municipal level roads, said Tej Bahadur Thapa, the vice-chairman of the municipality.

398 km of rural roads have been opened within this municipality. The municipality has divided these roads into three groups and established the necessary standards. The road connecting the rural municipality to the ward office has been named a 'A' category road. The policy of the municipality states that these roads will be made 12 meters wide with setbacks. The road from the municipality center to the 8 ward offices here has been built. Wards 5, 6, and 7 have also been blacktopped, while the road to ward 8 has been made standard. The road to ward 4 is planned to be blacktopped this year.

Rural Municipality Chairman Raju Thapa said that since the municipality's internal resources were not sufficient for other projects, the provincial government has been asked for funds in partnership. The municipality has listed the road connecting the ward office to the main settlement as 'B' category. These roads will be 10 meters wide with setbacks. Since these roads are to be used for essential services to the locals, most of them have been graveled.

The rural municipality has also prepared a road master plan. The master plan also includes a plan to build infrastructure such as bridges and culverts along with the standards of all those roads. 'C' category roads are roads connecting settlements to settlements. The roads have been made only 6 meters wide. ‘If standards are made that are not achievable in rural settlements, the risk of floods and landslides will increase,’ said Thapa. ‘These standards have been set to increase the independence of the locals and make transportation easier.’ The standards have been passed by the village assembly.

The ward chairmen had prepared a master plan with local participation so that the road would not be built by setting too many standards and not by setting too few. Chief Administrative Officer Mukti Poudel said that this method was introduced to reduce the risk of floods and landslides due to road infrastructure. In addition, a provision has been made to approve maps for other infrastructure or buildings and to meet the same standards if they are built near roads or public places. The municipality has not made a mandatory provision for map approval for individual houses.

Instead, it has made a policy of distributing revenue based on taxes collected from the ward level and implementing ward equalization plans. With this policy, the wards have started showing interest in their own revenue collection. The standards for the mid-hill highways in Kathekhola Rural Municipality 1, 2, 5 and 6 have not yet been met. ‘When the standards for the highway are met, even the village settlements can be completed. In such a case, it would be better if we could work according to the geography,’ said Ward 6 Chairman Brihaspati Kandel. ‘Since the standards are too many, the locals have not been forced to accept them.’