Development and construction work in the Himalayan district of Mustang has come to a standstill due to extreme cold. With the extreme cold during the winter season, infrastructure development and construction work being implemented in all five local levels of Mustang has come to a standstill.

The road and bridge construction project under the national pride (Beni-Jomsom-Korla) road section connecting the north-south has been affected due to extreme cold, said Project Chief Tejashwi Sharma.

Due to extreme cold, the equipment used in development construction has also been frozen. He said that the project work in the Mustang section under the Korla road has been suspended before the month of Poush. 

The infrastructure construction work in Mustang under the national pride Korla road section, which was affected by the cold, will resume after Chaitra, said Chief Sharma. According to him, the work of upgrading the 9.8 km blacktop road (Kagbeni-Chhusang) under the Korla road, which was contracted in the current fiscal year, has been stopped due to the cold.

The project had signed a contract agreement for Rs 288.7 million to blacktop the Kagbeni-Chhusang road.  

The project has also stated that the work on the 40-meter-long Ghami Khola bridge, a single-span bridge connecting Korala, which was contracted in 2075 BS under the project, has also been halted due to the cold.

Even though Himdhung Thokkar & Immortal JV Construction has started the work by contracting at a cost of Rs 68 million, there has been a delay in the construction of the Ghami Khola bridge here. The physical progress has reached 80 percent and the foundation has been constructed in Ghami Khola last Asoj and the slope has been sloped. Although the work of the approach road and bridge finishing is still pending here, the bridge construction work has been postponed due to the extreme cold, said Project Chief Sharma.

Similarly, the 17-kilometer road from Thasang Rural Municipality-2 Kobang to Gharpajhong-4 Jomsom under the national pride Beni-Jomsom-Korala road connecting Koralana has also been blocked due to the cold.

Although the construction of asphalt blacktop roads has been started since 2073-74 BS with a contract agreement, the construction work has not been completed due to the delay of the construction company. However, about five kilometers of road blacktop remains to be completed on this road. The project was confident that the construction work would have been completed before Pus if the construction company had increased its activity.

Similarly, the construction work of Larjung Khola Bridge and Kaiku Khola Bridge under construction in Thasang Rural Municipality under Korala Road has also been affected by the cold, said Project Chief Sharma. Due to the extreme cold, dozens of federal, provincial offices and local body development plans in Mustang have been stalled.

The work of 12 old multi-year plans and 13 new plans added this year by the Infrastructure Development Office in Mustang has been affected due to the cold, informed Sub-Engineer Jagdish Joshi of the Infrastructure Development Office.

According to Sub-Engineer Joshi, although cutting work is underway on the road leading to Alabari in Gharpajhong-2 Marfa, most of the projects being implemented by the office have had to be postponed due to the cold.

Old multi-year plans have been disrupted for various reasons and some are in the construction phase but have not been able to be implemented due to the cold. Of the new plans, three are in the multi-year plan process and some are in the contract process. Sub-Engineer Joshi says that the infrastructure work of the new plans that have been started after the contract agreement has been signed has not been able to proceed due to the winter season.

With the extreme cold in Mustang, the physical infrastructure construction work of the Drinking Water, Water Resources and Irrigation Sub-Division Office, Annapurna Conservation Area Project (ACAP), Integrated Services Office and five local levels of Mustang and various organizations has been affected by the cold.

Under the development work, more than 50 small and large infrastructure projects are being implemented in each local level here. But all these plans have been stalled due to the extreme cold. 

Lomanthang Rural Municipality Chairman Tasinurb Gurung said that development and construction work cannot be carried out even if desired due to the cold and possible snowfall during the winter season.

“During the winter, the citizens here go to the valley to escape the cold, and the cold also poses a similar problem for working in the cold here,” said Chairman Gurung. “After the cold subsides, development and construction work can be carried out in the month of Baisakh. The cold affects the local citizens themselves.”

It is said that all development projects in Gharpajhong, Thasang, Lomanthang and Loghekar Damodarkunda Rural Municipality have been halted due to the cold. With the increase in extreme cold, the temperature in Upper Mustang has dropped to minus 20 degrees and the temperature in Lower Mustang to minus 10 degrees.