Submit your Article

The Kaligandaki Corridor, stretching 430 kilometers from Gaindakot in eastern Nawalparasi to the Korala border crossing in Mustang, has significantly enhanced regional connectivity and economic development across central Nepal. The blacktopped road now runs alongside the Kaligandaki River, enabling smooth vehicle movement through areas that were once difficult to access.

The corridor directly links six districts—East Nawalparasi, Palpa, Gulmi, Baglung, Myagdi, and Mustang—spanning both Gandaki and Lumbini provinces. It also intersects with major national highways including the Mid-Hill Highway, Madan Bhandari Highway, Siddhartha Highway, and Mahendra Highway.

According to the Maldhunga-Gaindakot Road Project Office in Palpa, the corridor has spurred the growth of over 50 new markets and significantly boosted economic activity. Settlements have expanded as people relocate closer to the corridor, and there has been a noticeable increase in land transactions and rising real estate values.

The corridor is also being promoted as a trade and religious tourism route. Project data shows the following distribution: 78 kilometers of the route lie in eastern Nawalparasi, 87 kilometers in Palpa, 39 in Gulmi, and 36 in Baglung. The remaining sections extend from Maldhunga to Beni (8 km), Beni to Jomsom (82 km), and Jomsom to Korala in Upper Mustang (101 km).

The route directly connects key district headquarters including Mustang’s Jomsom, Myagdi’s Beni, and Chitwan’s Bharatpur. It also provides improved access to Parbat’s Kushma, Baglung Bazaar, and Palpa’s Tansen. Baglung’s Waleya Airport and the Korala border point have become operational following the corridor's development.

The corridor has also improved north-south trade logistics, especially in the Mid-Hill region, reducing transportation time and improving market access. For example, travel from Butwal to Muktinath, which previously took two days, can now be completed in a single day. The new route from Maldhunga to Butwal via Tansen has shortened travel distance by 75 kilometers compared to the previous route via Pokhara.

Officials state that the corridor provides more direct access from Gulmi and Arghakhanchi to destinations such as Syangja, Pokhara, Narayangadh, and the eastern Terai. Residents of the Kaligandaki region, including those in Gulmi, can now reach their district headquarters much faster—cutting travel time from multiple districts to just a couple of hours.

The 37.5 MW Chimkhola-Mangale-Rahughat Hydropower Project has been constructed in Raghuganga Rural Municipality of Myagdi. The project, promoted by Tudi Power Company Limited, has begun testing the dam, descender (water retention pond) and tunnel by pouring water into it.

Prakash Timilsina, the project’s resident engineer, informed that the testing of the physical structure has begun as per the schedule to start trial production on May 15. “The testing of the physical structure is being done by filling the dam, descender, tunnel and penstock pipeline with water,” he said. “The equipment installation at the power house has been completed and the transmission line is ready.”

Timilsina said that the penstock test was successful and no problems were seen in the tunnel, descender and dam, which were filled with water since Tuesday. A dam has been constructed in Bandi, Raghuganga Rural Municipality-8, and a 110-meter-long, 8-meter-high, and 30-meter-wide water retention pond has been constructed nearby.

A 950-meter-long penstock pipeline has been constructed to transport the water brought from the dam through a 5-kilometer, 300-meter-long tunnel to the power house at Bagar in Chimkhola, Raghuganga Rural Municipality-7.

The height of the outlet from the power house to the tunnel is 360 meters. The civil contractor for the project, whose construction began in November 2020, is Ramechhap Sherpa and South Asian Infrastructure Pvt. Ltd. The tunnel was dug from four places.

A 14-kilometer-long 220 kV transmission line has been constructed from the power house to the switchyard built in the power house premises of the Rahughat Hydropower Project in Raghuganga Rural Municipality-3. The transmission line has 49 towers. The electricity generated from the project will be connected to the 220 kV Dana-Kushma transmission line through a ‘loop in, loop out’ (Lilo) method. The 48.5 MW Upper Rahughat Hydropower Project, promoted by Tudi Power, along with Chimkhola-Mangle-Rahughat, is estimated to cost Rs 14bn.

Upper Rahughat is also in the final stages of construction. Chimkhola-Mangle-Rahughat is the first hydropower project to be completed in the Rahughat Basin. 21.3 MW Thulokhola, and 22.3 MW Upper Thulokhola hydropower projects on the Rahughat River are nearing completion.

The Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) plunged by 9. 62 points to close at 2,610. 76 points on Monday.

Similarly, the sensitive index dropped by 1. 24 points to close at 440. 25 points.

A total of 18,437,942-unit shares of 319 companies were traded for Rs 7. 63 billion.

Meanwhile, Nepal Micro Insurance Company Limited (NMIC), Om Megashree Pharmaceuticals Limited (OMPL) and Citizens Super 30 Mutual Fund (C30MF) were the top gainers today with their price surging by 10. 00 percent.

Likewise, Himalayan Power Partner Ltd. (HPPL) was the top loser with its price dropped by 9. 99 percent.

At the end of the day, the total market capitalization stood at Rs 4. 34 trillion.

The price of gold has increased by Rs 500 per tola in the domestic market on Monday.

According to the Federation of Nepal Gold and Silver Dealers’ Association, the precious yellow metal is being traded at Rs 184, 600 per tola today.  It was traded at Rs 184, 100 per tola on Sunday.

Similarly, the silver being traded at Rs 1,910 per tola today.