Kathmandu, April 24

The construction of the Mugu-Humla Link Road (MHLR) under the UK’s Rural Access Programme Phase III was announced at an event organised in Surkhet today. Humla is not connected by road to the rest of Karnali Province. When completed, this road will link Humla to the rest of the country, helping improve livelihoods and unlock the district’s economic potential, reads the statement issued by the Department for International Development (DFID), Nepal Office.

Chief Minister of Karnali Province Mahendra Bahadur Shahi, Speaker of Parliament in Province  6 Raj Bahadur Shahi and Infrastructure Development Minister of Province 6 Khadka Bahadur Khatri, among others, were present in the road construction

announcement programme today in Surkhet, as per the statement.

“Poor people from some of Nepal’s most isolated villages have built the Rural Access Programme’s roads. These roads belong to the local people and celebrate their efforts to truly bring progress and prosperity to the region for future generations,” the statement quoted Richard Montgomery, Asia regional director of DFID, as saying.

Stating the UK government’s strong partnership with the people of Nepal, DFID Nepal’s Head of Office Rurik Marsden shed light on areas of cooperation like in building rural infrastructure, improving access to financial services, on critical climate change issues and hydropower.

The contractual details for this critical infrastructure project are in the last leg. The construction of this road will create up to 600,000 employment days and provide jobs for close to 1,300 workers, of which nearly 40 per cent of them will be women, as per the statement.

“The selection of workers will prioritise households living along the corridor that want to work on the project, considering that this is an area where 50 per cent of the population live under the poverty line.”