Hetauda, March 15 -- Work has begun to blacktop a key road linking the remote Kailash Rural Municipality of Makawanpur district to the national highway network, more than four decades after the road track was first opened. The project marks the first time that the road connecting the Chepang-majority rural municipality will be blacktopped.

Construction of the track had started 43 years ago, but the route remained unpaved for decades, reflecting the area's longstanding infrastructural neglect. The road links the rural municipality to the Tribhuvan Highway from Chuniya and stretches about 21 kilometres to Kalikatar, the administrative centre of Kailash Rural Municipality. Authorities say the road is now undergoing expansion and is being up...