The road out of Nepal

One of the government’s first priorities after federalism was to bring development to the grassroots. The political leadership concluded that the way to do that was to build a road network.

Road connectivity would encourage Nepalis to stay in their villages, connect farmers to market, and stimulate local economies. so they thought. As the roads snaked north into the mountains, Nepalis moved south to the plains along them.

Nepal's new roads have become conduits for better opportunities in the cities, the Tarai and abroad. Since 2016, every road that has reached villages in the hinterland has helped empty them. Billions of rupees were spent on roads to improve the lives of people who do not live there anymore.

According to the 2021 census, 34 of Nepal’s 77 districts have witnessed a sharp decline in population. More worryingly, there is depopulation in 329 out of Nepal’s 753 municipalities, which is 43% of the country’s geography.

It seems there is an inverse relationship between roads and migration. This is evident in districts like Ramechhap and Khotang, with the highest population decline as road connectivity spread.

Despite its proximity to Kathmandu, the first motorised vehicle only arrived in Ramechhap in 1998. The district was cut off from the road network until a little over three decades ago, and its population was 188,064 during the 1991 census.

By the time unpaved roads were built-district wide in 2001, the population had increased by 1.2%. But in the 20 years since, as paved roads and a bridge across the Sunkosi connected rural Ramechhap to Kathmandu and the Tarai, people began to leave in droves, and the district witnessed a -0.47% decline in population by 2011.

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The 2015 earthquake caused extensive damage in Ramechhap, and additional roads were built to facilitate reconstruction. Most rebuilt houses now lie empty.

By 2021, major road networks connected all the municipalities in the district, and Ramechhap had a population growth rate of -1.67%. Ramechhap currently has more than 4,000km of roads.

But while the roads reached Ramechhap, the village did not have enough jobs or indigenous products that they could trade in the newly accessible market.

“The road network brought the market to the community, but took our people in exchange,” says Dilli Raj Adhikari of the Manthali municipality.

In remote districts like Humla, which are not connected to the highway grid, connectivity within the district has meant that people have begun to move to Simkot,

The population growth rate in realatively underdeveloped districts like Kalikot, Jumla, Mugu, and Dolpa is relatively high. On the other hand, Dailekh and Salyan which have more roads, have seen a decline in population as people move to cities.

The government conceived of the 1,700km Mid-Hill Highway in 2007 to keep people in the mountains. One of the objectives of this 'national pride project' was to connect 5 million people across the mountains to better facilities. However, the government and politicians did not care how this new road would affect migration.

As it stands, the population of all 26 districts connected to this highway has declined steadily for the past two decades. The fast track, which was promised to be the ‘highway of prosperity’ has instead become a highway of relocation.

The 1952 census found that 65% of Nepalis lived in the mountains and hills, while 35.2% were in the Tarai. By 2021, 53.6% were living in the Tarai, while only 40.3% remained in the hills.

Read also: From nowhere to nowhere, Basanta Pratap Singh

It is not enough for road infrastructure to reach the remotest corners of the country if there are no livelihood opportunities.

Development is not just about roads and bridges unless it enables people to fulfill their basic needs and connects them to better health, education, and employment opportunities.

Otherwise, people will continue to leave for cities which are struggling to manage increased pressure on their limited resources, lowering overall quality of life for all.

Chetan Adhikari is a demographic analystic who is pursuing MPhil-PhD on population studies from Tribhuvan University.