Sanduk Tamang from ward 3 of Dolpobuddha Rural Municipality has to walk three days to reach Dunai, the district headquarters of Dolpa. The return journey takes just as many days or even more. Although the 56-year-old could reach Marimla on the Nepal-China border in a day, he has no choice but to climb down to Dunai to buy food grains and other essentials as the Chinese border remains closed.

“Our village is very remote. We risk our lives walking through narrow trails to reach Dunai. There is no alternative to carry goods by using mules as the village does not have roads. This makes transportation nearly double the price of goods,” said Tamang.

According to him, the local people in Dolpobuddha grow only one crop a year due to the cold climate and lack of irrigation. The villagers grow Uwa, a barley variety, and the local production hardly lasts three months. “The villagers have to import food from other places for the rest of the year. Life in our remote village is quite difficult without transport facilities,” said Tamang.

Tasi Lama, a resident of Mugamkarmarong in Mugu district, dreams of a better future, devoid of hardships, if a road network connects the area.

“We have spent our lives in hardship and scarcity. I hope our children and grandchildren will not face the same problems once the road is built in our village,” said Lama. “I heard years ago that a road linking Tibet would be constructed through our village, but it has not yet reached us,” he lamented.

Residents of Dolpobuddha, Chharkatangsong and Sheyphoksundo rural municipalities in Dolpa district and Mugamkarmarong Rural Municipality in Mugu district have endured hardships for generations due to lack of transportation. It is uncertain when the areas will be connected with the national road network as Bheri corridor road and Gamgadhi-Nakchenagla road have been left incomplete mainly due to lack of budget.

The federal government planned to construct Dunai-Lasikyap-Sisaul-Dho-Tinje road in Dolpa under the Bheri corridor and Gamgadhi-Nakchenagla road in Mugu. But both the road projects are in limbo as the government did not allocate any budget for them in the current fiscal year 2024-25.

“Villagers have to walk two days to Dunai, Dolpa district headquarters, to buy essentials, and then four days to bring them back. A road in the village would make our lives easier,” said Paljor Tamang of ward 1 of Chharkatansong Rural Municipality, Dolpa.

The government allocated a budget of Rs1.4 billion for the Jajarkot-Dunai section of Bheri corridor. “The budget is being used to upgrade the road from Tallu to Tripurakot this year.

Small amounts have been released for upgrading existing road sections. But no funds have been released for opening new passages for the past three years” said Sunil Ranjitkar, senior divisional engineer at Bheri Corridor Road Project.

The contract for opening a 25 km passage [locally known as track] along the Dunai-Lasikyap road was awarded to Surya-Shreya-Shantidevi JV three years ago. “The project deadline is a year away but only about 15 percent of the work has been completed. If the contractor doesn’t expedite the work, we will take action,” said Ranjitkar. According to him, passage opening for the 35 km Lasikyap-Sisaul section has yet to start. “The area has hard rock cliffs. Preparations are on to hand over the road project to the Nepal Army,” he added. The road project has already opened a passage along the 40 km Marimla-Tinje-Dho section.

The progress on the 68 km Gamgadhi-Nakchenagla road is no different. Only around a 16 km passage has been opened so far. “This year, Rs40 million has been released for upgrading the passage, but no budget has not been released to open new sections,” said Dipendra Kumar Chaudhary, chief of the Road Division Office in Jumla. According to him, the Gamgadhi-Nakchenagla road is the shortest road in Karnali Province to connect with Tibet.

“We have to walk for two days to reach the nearest road. Life will be much easier once the project is completed,” said Dhanar Golbu Lama of Kimre village in Mugamkarmarong Rural Municipality. He expects that trade between Nepal and Tibet would also flourish once the road is completed.