September 10: It has been four years since the government started allocating budget for the construction of roads in Humla after announcing that the district headquarters of Humla will be connected to the national road network. However, the government failed to achieve its target in the previous three years. This year too, there is only a little possibility of completing the plan.

Despite making announcement in the budget, the government has not allocated enough budget to connect Simikot with the national road network.

The geographical condition is equally difficult with a maximum of eight months in a year conducive for work. Explosives management is also challenging.

For the politicians, this road has become a bargaining during the elections. It has been mentioned in the budget in recent years but the implementation part is missing.

In the budget statement for the current fiscal year, it is mentioned that 'Simikot, the headquarters of Humla district, which is yet to be connected to the national road network, will be connected to the road network after completing the work of opening the track’.

Physical Infrastructure and Transport Minister Prakash Jwala has said that Simikot must be connected to the road network at any cost this year and there would be no excuses.

A 2.8 km track is yet to be opened to connect Simikot to the national road network. Out of that, the army has been assigned the responsibility of opening 2.5 kilometers of track while the remaining 300 meters will be opened by the Department of Roads.

Minister Jwala called the officials of these two agencies to the ministry last Tuesday and said, “This year, the national road network must be connected to Humla district’s headquarters.” He added that the government announces plans to build a road to link Simikot every year with priority, but it is still incomplete. He mentioned that if there were any problems, he would find a way to solve them, but this time there should be no excuses to leave the road unfinished.

The Nepalese Army received a budget of Rs 100 million this year. Joint Secretary of the Ministry Arjun Jung Thapa informed that the army has asked for an additional budget of Rs 100 million as the earmarked budget is not enough. Thapa is hopeful that Simikot will be connected to the national road network this year as the army has expressed its commitment to open the track and hand it over to the government by upcoming April.

The department, which has to open a 300-meter track, said that if the explosive material is not available, the work will also be handed over to the Nepalese Army. Former Secretary of the Government Shiva Nepal says that if the explosives are not available and its production capacity is not increased, there may be a big obstacle not only for this project but also for other projects. He said, “It is difficult to manage explosives.”

According to Nepal, the work has not been completed due to the fact that the workers do not want to go to remote places. The builders, despite having a contract, assign the construction work to the locals under a sub-contract, while they can only work for 7/8 months out of 12 months due to the extreme weather in winter.

Brigadier General of the Nepalese Army, Krishna Prasad Bhandari, said that there is a plan to connect Simikot to the road network by the end of the current fiscal year. He said that the work is currently being done based on available resources.

Bhandari said that there is no problem in managing explosives and added, "Even though there was a shortage in the supply of explosives some time ago, there is no problem now. However, the raw material has to be imported. If there are no other obstacles, the road will be connected to Simikot this year.”

The government had also announced in the budget statement for the year 2077/78 that the road will be built up to the headquarters of Humla. In the budget statement for the year 2078/79, it was said that 'Simikot will be connected to the national highway network'. In the budget statement of the year 2079/80, it was said that the necessary budget has been allocated to connect the Humla headquarters to the national road network.