Hetauda

Hetauda (Nepali: हेटौडा) is a sub-metropolitan city in the Makwanpur District of the Narayani Zone of southern Nepal. It is the administrative headquarters of the Makwanpur District and the headquarters of Nepal's Central Development Region. The city has 84,671 inhabitants. At the time of the 1991 Nepal census, it had a population of 53,836 people living in 10,420 households.

Hetauda is 132 km from Nepal's capital, Kathmandu, via the old Tribhuvan Highway. There are now two alternate roads that are less than 80 km, but they have not been fully blacktopped. The city is surrounded by three rivers—the Rapti to the west, the Samari to the north, and the Karra to the south—and is part of an important industrial regions. The settlement developed because of its location along the Tribhuvan Highway, and was later linked to another major national thoroughfare: the Mahendra Highway, also known as the East-West Highway.

Physiography

Hetauda is the cleanest city of Nepal, according to reports on more than 150 municipalities. Because of its geographical features and its climate, it is a popular choice for people migrating from Nepal's mountainous northern regions and southern Terai region, and its population has steadily increased.