Upgraded Road Section Connects Beni Municipality Wards After 18 Years

Myagdi. The road section connecting Bagarphat to Dudhekola via Bagarphat in Ward No. 2 of Beni Municipality-2 and Ward No. 3 has been upgraded after 18 years of opening. The Bagarphat-Kopre-Dudhekola section of the Handebhir-Bagarphat-Bhakimli road, operated through the Infrastructure Development Office, Myagdi, has been upgraded by widening, improving curves and turns, upgrading the grade, and constructing drains and retaining walls.

The 'track' route of the road from Beni Bazaar via Handebhir-Bagarphat of Beni Municipality-2 to Bhakimli was opened as an agricultural road in BS 2064. Except for the section on the cliff across Manglaghat, the road from Handebhir to Buddha Academy in Bagarphat was paved two years ago.

Chandra Bahadur Ghimire of Bagarphat, Beni Municipality-2, stated that local residents have benefited after widening the road section from Bagarphat to Dudhekola by over two and a half kilometers, constructing drains, walls, and graveling.

“During the monsoon, water and mud accumulated on the narrow, potholed road, making movement difficult,” he said, “After the road upgrade, the 20-minute travel time has been reduced to five minutes.” Neeraj Bhandari, the construction company representative, stated that 80 percent of the work has been completed, including 390 meters of concrete paving in the Hallegauda area of the project, cleaning drains, and repairing damaged sections.

The Infrastructure Development Office signed a contract with Machhapuchhre Himalayan JV in Jestha, BS 2081, for the road upgrade, which was selected as a multi-year plan through the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure of the Gandaki Province Government, for Rs 5.59 crore.

This plan was implemented through competitive bidding for the road upgrade, with an estimated cost of 10 crore. Om Bahadur Ghartimagar, a resident of Kopre, stated that the movement has become easier and the travel time has been shortened after widening the approximately two-and-a-half-kilometer road from Bagarphat to Dudhekola to eight meters and graveling it.

390 meters of road on various sections of the road connecting Dudhekola to Bhakimli remain to be paved. Construction entrepreneur Bhandari stated that although the contract expires by Chaitra month, there are problems in carrying out the work due to the Provincial Government not allocating sufficient budget.

Residents of Wards 2, 3, and 4 of Beni Municipality and Wards 3 and 4 of Mangala Rural Municipality use this road, which connects Tarakhola and Kathekhola Rural Municipalities of Baglung, to travel to and from the district headquarters, Beni.