Province 7 is lately seeing an outburst in development activities, driving up demand for heavy duty vehicles.

Most of the rural municipalities in the province, located in the far western part of the country, are seeing works related to opening of new tracks. The province is also seeing construction of Rani-Jamara-Kuleriya irrigation project, embankment in Darchula, six-lane road in Dhangadi and a medical college, among others. As a result, heavy duty vehicles, such as excavators and bulldozers, can be spotted almost everywhere.

This is good news for the province which has been left far behind in the country’s development process due to various factors, including negligence of politicians. The ongoing development activities are thus being seen as a harbinger of better days, as they will give a lift to economic activities.

“Most of the works related to opening of new tracks are being conducted using heavy duty vehicles,” said Kamal Raj Pant, a construction entrepreneur. This is unlike a few years ago when many districts in the province used to rely on human power to open tracks.

This is one of the main reasons for jump in demand for heavy duty equipment in the province.

Until a few years ago, even big construction companies in the province did not have more than 15-20 heavy duty vehicles. Today, even local bodies have started purchasing these vehicles to facilitate construction work.

Province 7 is now home to around 850 heavy duty vehicles, according to Pant. If heavy duty vehicles brought into the state from neighbouring provinces are taken into account, the number would exceed 1,100, Pant added.

With the surge in demand for these vehicles, around 11 showrooms of heavy duty equipment have cropped up in the province. Each of these showrooms sells at least one heavy duty vehicle per month. In addition, construction companies are also importing these vehicles directly from India.

“Previously these vehicles used to be imported via Birgunj. Now we are directly importing them from the customs office in Kailali to save costs,” said Dansingh Badaila, general secretary of the Heavy Equipment Federation (Province 7 Chapter). The customs office at Kailali sees imports of around 15 to 16 heavy duty vehicles per month.

Heavy duty vehicles cost Rs9 million to Rs13 million each. “Lately, these vehicles are also being used to flatten farmland and construction of sewage canals. This has also pushed up demand from these vehicles,” said Badaila.

Yet one of the biggest hurdles facing the province is lack of skilled human resources to operate heavy duty equipment. “We have lately started providing training to youths to deal with this problem,” said Laxman Saud, director of Rajendra Construction Service.