Shyam Purja, a local youth of Annapurna Rural Municipality-4, Narachang Lekgaun, in Myagdi district, did not even imagine that his village would be reachable by road one day and that his dream of riding a motorcycle would not be fulfilled.

Despite years of efforts of the Lakegaun villagers, the dream remained elusive. That’s because they could not open the road track between the Lakegaun and Beshi. But with the start of a hydropower project in the village, things have changed. And the dream came true last year.

After the under-construction hydropower project in the village opened the road track to Akkare Bhir, between Beshi and Lekgaun, the village became accessible by road.

Before that, the District Development Committee (DDC) had spent millions of rupees in an attempt to build the road, but to no avail. The lack of blasting equipment had hindered the development.

Purja said, "Our dream of riding a motorcycle came true when the project opened the road track, which was considered difficult during the construction of the access road. For us, the project has been a boon.”

The 6-MW Rele Khola Hydropower Project, in Lekgaon, has constructed a 5-km road from Beshi to Lakegaun.

Ayush Bhattarai, engineer with the project, said that it took about four years to build the road in that section. It was a big challenge to open the track by blasting the Akkare Bhir. There are more than 22 turns from Beshi to Lekgaun and 11 turns in the Akkare Bhir alone. The road has now been widened.

Ward Chairman Lok Bahadur Fagami said that after the construction of the road, about 150 households in Lekgaun now have access to road services.

“With the help of donations from the local residents, the then DDC and the rural municipality had spent more than Rs. 15 million, but the hill in the middle of the road connecting Beshi with Lekgaun could not be crossed,” he said.

“Our dream of connecting the village to road service was fulfilled after the hydropower project came to our village.”

He added that with the construction of the road, the marketing of agricultural products produced in the village, transportation, and movement had become easy. The locals of Lekgaun are happy that the two-hour-long distance can now be covered in 20 minutes.