A prospective dirt road construction from Nayapul to Ghandruk is currently under consideration. It has been proposed as part of an infrastructural development to bring improvement in local standard of living. The road development project has been a serious concern to all Ghandrukes living in Nepal and abroad. It has raised serious questions on issues regarding its sustainability, safety, necessity and impact. These concern brought by the road construction has now become a major topic for discussion amongst Ghandrukes.
Road, electricity, school, bridges, health post and drinking water project etc. are the basic infrastructures of development that need to be built for prosperity of any village. Building a road to our village is a good sign of economic growth that will bring significant change in local standard of living and improve the quality of life.
80% of the population of Ghandruk depends on agricultural subsistence supplemented by livestock grazing for their livelihoods and the remaining 20% benefits from tourism industry. At present, various daily necessities like food, products for personal hygiene, kitchenware, plastics, etc. are transported on mule trains or carried by porters from Nayapul. This means of transportation is slow, cumbersome and the volume of goods that can be transported is quite small. In this context, road construction will enable quicker and easier transportation of goods and the volume of goods transported will increase vastly.
Goods and materials will become easily accessible and subsequently lower the price, reduce risk of inflation and make living much easier. In addition, small scale agriculture and forest based industries such as poultry farming, bee keeping, carpet factory, wood carving, bamboo work, vegetable and fruit production can be opened in our village. This huge array of possible businesses opportunities will provide local people a viable source of income.
Despite the advantages, its construction is going to prove very difficult. The road must be safe, sustainable and reliable at all times. Like most road constructions undertaken in hilly areas of Nepal, building a road to Ghandruk is unlikely to be sustainable. Besides, construction of a road on steep mountain slopes like Ghandruk is an extremely difficult task in terms of planning, cost, safety and management.
Ghandruk is the most remote village in Kaski district and situated six thousand feet above sea level in the lap of Annapurna and Machhapuchhre mountains. Due to its mountainous feature, the landscape is geologically unstable. The hills and mountains leading to Ghandruk are mainly shaped by active erosion processes subjected to landslides, floods and earthquake.
Road building on such steep mountain slopes can trigger mass movement of unstable earth soil and cause landslides. This can cause heavy damages to roads, bridges, cultivated lands and human settlements. It can also block natural drainage systems and increase water runoff resulting in massive economic losses and public sufferings.
Landslides are very common and serious during monsoon season as rainfall and rainfall intensity increases. Once started this process is very difficult to stop. Even reforestation does not guarantee effective control of landslide. Typical example of mass movement can be seen in Chane Khola on the way up to Ghandruk where the intensity is increasing every year. Its mitigation is almost unlikely with small scale budget. Due to landslide, most hill areas of Nepal have no access to all weather roads and where such roads have been built, it is only in operation for maximum of six months.
The hill road generally passes through low land valleys, steep slopes, cultivated hill terraces and high cliffs crossing over several streams and rivers. In this landscape, building a road requires several permanent structures like bridges, culverts, chokedamps and drainage systems. This is costly and cannot be met by the amount collected from donations and minimal government subsidy.
To ensure the road is sustainable and safe high level of maintenance is critical. However, maintenance of roads, bridges, chokedamps and culverts annually damaged by floods and landslides requires large sum of money. It is neither economically viable nor environmentally sustainable. Therefore, this needs to be carefully considered before implementing the project.
Based on past experiences learnt from some community development projects conducted by A.C.A.P in Ghandruk, it is very important that a feasibility study is carried out to outline concerns on sustainability of the road, safety measures needed to be taken and the impact of road on environment before implementing the project.
There needs to be a broader discussion and consultation among Ghandrukes about the project in order to achieve a goal for sustainable road development and environmental conservation. The success of our road development project mainly depends on maximum public participation in terms of fund raising, knowledge sharing and exchanging ideas. Greater involvement of Ghandrukes in this road development activity is mandatory to ensure the project is successful.
Greater involvement will breed a more positive attitude in general public towards road development and make them realize their responsibility in development and management of the road. In this way, we can achieve greater successes for a sustainable road development.
SAFETY MEASURES
Careful planning and designing are crucial to make the road development successful. Road safety can play a major role in reduction of severe road accidents which are most likely to happen in mountain roads. According to a recent interview taken with our road builder, our future road seems to lack proper planning and designing. Will this road built locally without a survey and feasibility study by a professional engineer meet the required safety standard? This is a serious question concerning the lives of hundreds and thousands of people travelling on this road. Building a road by ignoring the safety measures will lead to serious road accidents which results in loss of lives and property. Thus, to prevent severe road accidents appropriate safety measures must be taken to ensure the safety of large number of people travelling along this road.
IMPACT OF ROAD CONSTRUCTION ON ENVIRONMENT AND TOURISM
The most immediate impact of road construction on tourism will be the destruction of businesses of tea houses along the trekking route from Seauli bazaar to Damle. As the road bypasses the tea houses, the owners will lose their livelihoods which have so far been supported by the tourism business for decades. Similarly, the road development project will badly affect the main village of Ghandruk in terms of environmental destruction, cultural depletion and security problem.
Ghandruk is recognized as one of the most popular trekking destination in Nepal for its diverse natural sceneries, Gurung culture and tradition, and traditional art and architecture. Because of these natural and cultural attractions, large number of tourists comes to visit Ghandruk every year. Trekking along Modi river watching several species of birds and climbing uphill through the paddy fields and cliff way with a beautiful sceneries of surrounding area up to Ghandruk is regarded as one of the most exciting and amazing journey for adventure seekers. With the development of the road, the village of Ghandruk is in danger of losing its popularity as a well known trekking destination in Nepal.
Many beautiful houses traditionally built with ancient time art and architecture might be converted into modern luxurious houses for tourists’ accommodation. The transformation of Ghandruk into a small city will eventually lead to modernization resulting in demolition of traditional ancient houses. This will further lead to loss of Ghandruk’s identity as one of the largest Gurung settlement in Nepal. It is important that if the road is built, best efforts are taken to preserve the culture, tradition and identity of Ghandruk.
Significant consideration must also be given to environmental problems that can emerge from the effect of road development. Increasing number of tourist means greater demand in firewood and timber for cooking, heating and building. This greater need for firewood will lead to clearance and deforestation of large hectares of forest land causing serious landslides and disturbances to the habitat of birds and wildlife.
The rapid flow and movement of people will also lead to rise in noise level, water and air pollution. Furthermore, it can create security problems that might lead to degradation in quality of life of people in Ghandruk. Thus, the road may promote tourism in Ghandruk initially but it cannot affirm sustainable and successful development of tourism forever.
Last but not least, the haphazard planning of road building can cause the rocks and soil to slide down the hill endangering the lives of large number of Ghandruk people living down hillside of road.
This article was written in a goal to bring attention to the discussion on the prospective road construction to Ghandruk. Advantages and disadvantages of the road construction were roughly weighed followed by examination on the feasibility of construction. While this road construction might be favored due to increase in convenience and improvement of livelihood, there is also strong opposition because of concern on subsequent environmental and cultural damages. This article concludes by enforcing greater involvement of all Ghandruke on this controversial and sensitive topic.
Gopal Gurung
Ghandruk -3, Currenlty Feltham
London UK
