An 11-km dirt track from Bramhadev in ward 9 of Bhimdatta Municipality to the Dadeldhura border in Kanchanpur district has been opened to connect Kanchanpur with Dadeldhura through the Mahakali Corridor.

According to the Mahakali Corridor Road Project, the construction of the 11-km track was completed last month, but its opening was delayed due to a shortage of budget and failure to clear trees from the project site.

The road project had previously opened a 27-km dirt track from the Kanchanpur-Dadeldhura border to Jogbudha in Dadeldhura.

“The track opening in Kanchanpur has been delayed mostly because of delays in felling trees. We received permission to cut down trees 20 months after the signing of the project agreement,” said Laxman Joshi, chief of the Mahakali Corridor Road Project.

A Cabinet decision on February 27, 2023, permitted the felling of trees for the project. However, the Division Forest Office withheld permission due to the failure of several ministries including the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport to deposit funds in the Forest Development Fund under the Ministry of Forests and Environment.

“Another hurdle the project is facing is the limited time frame allowed by the division forest offices to fell trees,” Joshi said. “The division forest offices have given the project three months to cut down trees, but thousands of trees cannot be cleared within such a short period.”

The Mahakali Corridor Road Project is a mega infrastructural and development project around 413 km long that aims to connect settlements along the Mahakali River from Kanchanpur in the south to Darchula in the north.

According to Joshi, the road project has been working to open dirt tracks and upgrade the already opened one in a 334-km section while the Nepal Army is working to open a track from Tusarpani to Tinkar in Darchula district. Around 92 km of dirt track—31 km in Dadeldhura, 34 km in Baitadi and 27 km in Darchula—is yet to be opened.

Road upgrade and blacktopping works are underway in the 37 km road in Dadeldhura and Darchula by dividing the road section into six different packages. The road project plans to complete the upgrade work along a 5 km section in the Sandani area of Dadeldhura district in the current fiscal year of 2023-24. Similarly, blacktopping work is ongoing along a 12-km section in Mahakali Municipality in Darchula and a 20-km stretch from Khalanga to Tusarpani in three different packages.

“The road project is committed to expediting the work,” Joshi said. “However, any delay by the government in releasing additional budget can also hamper the project.”

According to him, the government has allocated merely Rs296.5 million budget for the project in the current fiscal year. “So the project has demanded at least Rs250 million additional budget. The construction work along the corridor will be halted if the additional budget is not released,” said Joshi.

The road project said it had asked the Department of Roads to ensure Rs1.18 billion for the project. “The road upgrade work will also be initiated in other sections once the department assures the budget,” Joshi said. “The road project aims to complete the track-opening work along the corridor by the end of the upcoming fiscal year of 2024-24. Currently, track-opening and upgrade work are underway in several sections simultaneously.”

The Mahakali Corridor Road Project started in the fiscal year of 2008-9 as Darchula-Tinkar road project. The project is being executed as the Mahakali Corridor Road Project after it was renamed in the fiscal year 2020-21.