Kavre, March 15 -- Khawa section of Araniko Highway will close for 11 hours daily starting March 21 to facilitate urgent blacktopping.

Issuing a notice, the Road Division Office in Bhaktapur announced that all four-wheelers, including buses, are prohibited to ply the road from 6 pm to 5 am until April 3. Meanwhile, heavy vehicles like tippers and trucks face a total 24-hour ban during the period.

This 4.155-kilometre stretch has long been a source of local frustration. The local people often vent their ire over the delay in work at the road stretch. "The delays have been endless," a local resident of Banepa said. "We have lived through suffocating dust and mud for years."

The project faced chronic stagnation under the previous contract...