The blacktopping of the Gachhe-Bhaluwang road connecting Deukhuri in Dang, the capital of Lumbini Province, has begun 27 years after the construction began. Ammar Construction Services is busy blacktopping a 4-kilometer road from Gachhe in the district headquarters Sandhikharka to Gondakot in Dhikura. A five-and-a-half-meter-wide road has been blacktopped here. Gopi Pun, head of the Road Infrastructure Development Office, said that a contract has been awarded to blacktop 15 kilometers of the road, including this. The initial budget for blacktopping is Rs 85 million.

‘Out of the 48-kilometer distance of the Gachhe-Bhaluwang road, a contract has been awarded to blacktop 15 km,’ he said. ‘Preparatory work is underway to blacktop the remaining road. The blacktop will be done after the budget is approved next year.’

After the blacktop of this road, there is hope that the rural areas of the southern part of the district will have easy access to the city.
This road was started in 2056 BS by allocating a budget by the then District Development Committee. At that time, the road was going to be built to provide access to Sandhikharka, the headquarters of Arghakhanchi, to Dang, Banke, and Bardiya in the western part. The road was started at the initiative of the then District Development Committee President Pitambar Bhusal to facilitate the locals of Dhanchaur, Jaluke, Jukena, and Siddhara villages in the southern part of Arghakhanchi to Bhaluwang Bazaar and Sandhikharka in Dang. Even after 27 years, the road construction work has not been completed every year due to lack of budget.

After the Lumbini provincial capital was shifted to Deukhuri, the Gachhe-Bhaluwang road was considered important, but due to lack of budget, the work has not been completed at a fast pace. If this road is completed, the Gachhe-Bhaluwang road will be easy for the residents of Arghakhanchi, Palpa and Gulmi districts to travel to and from the provincial capital.

Currently, to travel to and from the provincial capital, one has to travel via the Sandhikharka-Gorusinghe road route and the East-West Mahendra Highway. The distance will be half the distance after the completion of all the blacktop. The Sandhikharka-Gorusinghe-Bhaluwang road is 124 kilometers. Gachhe-Bhaluwang is 48 km. 'If there is sufficient budget, all the roads can be blacktopped within two years,' Pun said. 'The work has not been done because the budget is low. Now that the blacktop has been completed, the locals in this area are enthusiastic.' He said that a budget of 1 billion is needed for that. Due to the low budget and the cutting of the Sapre cliff in Dhanchaur, a lot of time and budget have been spent to build the road. ‘We have put forward the concept of the Gachhe-Bhaluwang road to provide access to the remote settlements in the southern region with the district headquarters and Bhaluwang in the western region,’ said the then District Development Committee Chairman Pitambar Bhusal. ‘Due to accessibility, the political leadership did not show interest in allocating sufficient budget for this road in the past. This is an alternative east-west route.’

It takes two and a half hours from Gulmi headquarters Tamghas to Arghakhanchi headquarters Sandhikharka. For Palpa residents, the distance from Sandhikharka to the provincial capital is shorter via the Kaligandaki Corridor via Rampur-Ridi. He said that this road is a suitable mountainous route for traveling to Pokhara, the capital of Gandaki Province, and Deukhuri in Lumbini.

Once the road is operational, it will be easier to transport the produce of villages including Dhanchaur, Jaluke, and Jukena to Bhaluwang. Initially, the section was planned to connect Lamatal, Satmara to Bhaluwang. Later, the route was changed due to the difficult geography and the high budget. Currently, the Bhaluwang-Pyuthan district headquarters Khalanga road section connects to Bhaluwang via Baridamar and Bangekhal.

‘Once this road is completed, goats, chickens, vegetables, milk, and eggs produced in the remote settlements of Jaluke, Jukena, and Siddhara villages of Shitganga Municipality will be exported to Bhaluwang,’ said Gita Bhat Chhetri, deputy mayor of Shitganga Municipality. She said that with regular vehicle operation, the village’s produce will easily reach the market and the youth and farmers in the village will be involved in commercial agricultural enterprises.