83 kilometers of footpath added to the Great Himalayan Trail

24 August, Kohalpur,

In the last one year, 83 kilometers of footpath construction has been completed under the Great Himalayan Trail. According to the annual progress report of the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation for the fiscal year 2076/77, work was done for the Great Himalayan Trail in four different sections in one year.

Under this, a 10 km long trekking route has been constructed from Jiri of Dolakha to Chaurikharka Lukla of Solukhumbu to reach the Everest base camp. A 20 km long footpath has been constructed at Langtang of Rasuwa under the Great Himalayan Trail.

According to the ministry, a 20-kilometer long structure has been constructed on the trekking route from Sindhupalchowk to Langtang via Helambu Thadepati. Meanwhile, a 15-kilometer trekking route has been constructed for the trek to Chho Rolpa.

A footpath has been constructed to reach Chho Rolpa through Khare Sotali. According to the ministry, trekking has also been constructed in the Kanchenjunga region and the Makalu region of the Great Himalayan Trail. A 7-kilometer trek has been completed in Kanchenjunga, 8 kilometers in Makalu and 8 kilometers in Yarsa Trail.

What is The Great Himalaya Trail?

The Great Himalaya Trail is a route across the Himalayas from east to west. The original concept of the trail was to establish a single long-distance trekking trail from the east end to the west end of Nepal that includes a total of roughly 1,700 kilometers (1,100 mi) of the path. There is a proposed trail of more than 4,500 kilometers (2,800 mi) stretching the length of the Greater Himalaya range from Nanga Parbat in Pakistan to Namche Barwa in Tibet thus passing through, India, Nepal, Bhutan and Tibet. Although an actual continuous route is currently only a concept, if completed it would be the longest and highest alpine hiking track in the world.

Of the 4,500 km long Great Himalayan Trail, Nepal alone covers about 1,700 km. It covers the area from Kanchenjunga of Taplejung in the east of Nepal to Darchula in the west. The government has a policy of making the structure of the Great Himalayan trekking of the same quality from east to west.

Accordingly, it has been allocating budget for a large trekking route. The concept of the Great Himalayan Trail has been drawn up covering the top 10 regions within Nepal. It is being divided into 10 parts including Kanchenjunga, Makalu Varun, Everest Rolling, Helambu Langtang, Ganesh Himal Manaslu, Annapurna Mustang, Dolpa, Rara and Jumla, Humla and Far West.

In last year’s budget, the government included a program to start infrastructure construction by drawing a Himalayan green footpath connecting Darchula in the far west to Taplejung in the east.

State started working on a destination

The government had started construction of infrastructure last year by selecting seven destinations under the One State One Destination program. The ministry has stated that the work has progressed on the basis of the detailed project report.

Sandakpur of Ilam, Dhanushadham of Dhanusha, Indrasarovar of Makwanpur and Panchase of Kaski have been selected as one state and one destination. Similarly, Nigalihawa of Kapilvastu, Rara of Mugu and Bhadagaun of Kailali were selected as state-level tourist destinations. The budget for these destinations is kept by the central government. The government had started work for the development of these destinations by making a master plan last year.

Apart from this, 90 percent of the construction work of the Ranatharu Museum in Kanchanpur was completed last fiscal year, according to the Ministry. Information center buildings have been constructed in Chitwan, Lukla and Janakpur this year. It is mentioned in the statement of the ministry that the construction work of the Shraddha site in Kagweni of Muktinath and Ani Griha in Muktinath has also started.

The Ministry has mentioned that the construction work of the tourist bus park at the NRB Chowk in Pokhara is 90 percent complete. The ministry has stated that a park and a view tower have been set up at Dasdhunga in Chitwan and a park with a view tower at Ghanousa Syangja. The ministry has also included beautification of Wawa Lake in Siraha and the construction of a lookout tower as achievements of the year.

710 million budget for infrastructure 

The Ministry of Tourism had allocated Rs. 709.2 million for infrastructure in the fiscal year 2076/77. Out of that, Rs. 526 million has been spent. The financial percentage of the ministry is 74.10 percent in infrastructure construction. The physical progress is 82.73 percent, according to the ministry.