French firm files cases against Kathmandu Fun Park

KATHMANDU, March 6:

A French firm has filed a lawsuit against Kathmandu Fun Park at the Kathmandu District Court, accusing the latter of violating several agreements signed between them for developing cable car service from Thankot to Chandragiri.

Pomagalski SAS filed a lawsuit on February 25, seeking the court´s order to implement the agreements including a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that it signed with Kathmandu Fun Park in November 2013.

Kathmandu Fun Park is promoted by five people including Hemaraj Dhakal and Min Bahadur Gurung. In addition to the cable car service, it has plans to build a hotel and number of recreational facilities at Chandragiri hills.

Two months ago, Kathmandu Fun Park awarded the contract to develop cable car service between Thankot and Chandragiri (2.4 km) to Doppelmayr Cable Car of Austria. The estimated cost of the project is Rs 500 million.

Dhakal, Gurung, Ambika Prasad Paudel, Uttam Nepal and UMA GC have been named defendants in the lawsuit.
In the lawsuit, the plaintiff has claimed that it made significant investment on providing expertise service for preparing feasibility study as well as conducting financial and technical assessment for construction and operation of the cable car service.

Shyam Mohan Shrestha, local representative of Pomagalski SAS, said that it would be hard to bring foreign investment in Nepal if business ethics is not upheld.
Talking to Republica, Paudel denied signing any agreement or purchasing any service from the French company. “We only collected information from Pomagalski as well as many other foreign companies,” added Paudel.

Source: Republica