A truck convoy carrying 175 tonnes of food grains for Humla district left Nepal from the Tatopani border on 3 October. This is the first of the 350-ton World Food Programme consignment to be transported to the north-western Nepali district via Tibet. The UN agency says it began planning the shipment of food via Tibet two years ago and that this was the first time a "comprehensive agreement" to transport food aid was possible. The supplies are to be used for the ongoing food-for-work scheme that is building a road connecting Simikot with Hilsa on the Nepal-Tibet border. Work on a 10-km section is to begin next month.