Humla became the 77th district to reach the road, national road to all district headquarters
Humla headquarter Simkot is connected to the national road network. Simkot has been connected to the national road network after Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli inaugurated the belay bridge built on Chuvakhola Karnali river located in Kharpunath rural municipality-5 of Humla.
As it takes time to build a concrete bridge, the 14th division of the Nepali Army has constructed a belay bridge in Chuwakhola. Last year, in the last week of March, the Nepali Army opened the 286 km track under the Karnali Corridor and the means of transport started running up to Simkot. But Humla was not connected to the national road network because there was no bridge at Chuwakhola.
'Now it is 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. The Karnali Corridor, which starts from Khulalu in Kalikot, also connects Bajura and Humla. With the construction of the bridge, Humli's road dream has been fulfilled after 26 years.
According to the Simkot-Hilsa road project office, in 2054, around 50 local people lost their lives due to the viral influenza that spread along with starvation in Humla, and the then district development committee planned to connect the road with China for a permanent solution to the food shortage.
In the year 2057, the digging of the Simkot-Hilsa road was started using the internal resources of Jivis, and the road was continued from the year 2058 by the World Food Program by conducting the 'Food for Work Program' . Similarly, from 2059 to 2065, Jivis continued the construction of the road after spending 68 million rupees, but when the work could not be done at a fast pace, an excavator was purchased and the road was worked on, said Omprakash Kohar, information officer of the project.
The federal government established the Hilsa-Simkot Road Project Office in Chaitra 2069 for road construction. From 5th Chaitra 2071, the task of road construction was given to the Nepali Army. The Nepalese army opened the track of the road in the last week of March last year after nearly 10 years. Engineer Kohar informed that about 7 billion rupees were spent on road construction.
The Chief Minister of Karnali Province, Yamlal Kandel, said that with the completion of the Karnali Corridor, it is expected to help the development of the entire Karnali Province. With the construction of the road, most of the districts of Karnali from Hilsa in China are connected to Rupadiya in India. "Now, by establishing relations with China and India, commercial benefits can be gained," 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."
Under the Karnali Corridor, road upgrading is currently being done through two planning offices. 123 kilometers in South section (Khulalu-Salisala) and 146 kilometers in Salisalla-Hilsa road scheme under Uttar section.
The head of Khulalu-Sallisalla road planning office, Tularam Sharma, said that road widening, retaining walls, gravel and black sheet work are continuing in 5 sections, namely Pilichour-Tumch, Tumkot-Hilsa, Elbang-Chyachda, Chyachda-Hekpakhola, Kuwadi-Tumch. According to him, road upgrading is being done with a budget of 3 billion rupees. Under the corridor, 10 rivers, 6 in the south section and 4 in the north section, and Belybridges have been constructed on the Karnali River.
