Banking News – Road blacktopping has begun in Darwang Bazaar of Ward No. 6 in Malika Rural Municipality, marking a major infrastructure milestone nearly 19 years after the area was first connected by road.

The project is being implemented under the federal government’s complementary grant program to pave roads in Darwang, the administrative center of Malika Rural Municipality.

Rural Municipality Chairperson Beg Prasad Garbuja said work to widen the road, construct drainage systems and retaining walls, and lay gravel, base, and sub-base layers has already been completed. Workers began laying bitumen and stone chips last week.

“Under this project, a total of 1.4 kilometers of road in the lower and upper sections of Darwang Bazaar will be blacktopped,” Garbuja said. “The project was supposed to be completed within the current fiscal year, and we have urged the contractor to expedite the remaining work.”

Around 300 meters of road in the Hulak Chowk and Lower Bazaar areas have already been paved, while work in Upper Bazaar, Dhaulagiri Chowk, and Syauli Bazaar is still pending.

The contractor has requested an extension after failing to complete the project within the deadline stipulated in the contract. According to the construction company, rising fuel and construction material costs, along with traffic management challenges on the busy road, contributed to the delay.

Local resident Bhaviraj Phagami welcomed the development, saying the community had waited nearly two decades for the road to be paved.

“We are happy that the road is finally being blacktopped 19 years after it reached Darwang,” he said. “Once completed, it will eliminate dust and mud, making the settlement cleaner and travel more convenient.”

Rapid urban growth has made the narrow internal roads of Darwang Bazaar increasingly congested, creating traffic difficulties and increasing the risk of accidents. To facilitate road expansion, local residents voluntarily demolished parts of their house frontages and temporary structures.

This year alone, owners of 36 houses in Dhaulagiri Tole and 31 houses in Naya Bazaar Tole removed portions of their structures to allow the road to be widened.

According to Consumers’ Committee Secretary Krishna Acharya, about 400 meters of roadside drainage was constructed last year after structures along Hulak Chowk, Lower Darwang, Pulchowk, and the suspension bridge approach were removed.

Darwang is home to more than 300 households. A separate road section near Janapriya Secondary School was blacktopped two years ago under a project funded by the Gandaki Provincial Government.