KTM-tarai fast track: Govt arranges funds for land acquisition
KATHMANDU, FEB 04 -
The Kathmandu-Tarai Fast Track Project which has been scrambling to find money to pay for land acquisition has been offered relief by the Ministry of Physical Planning and Works (MoPPW). The ministry plans to use the funds saved from other infrastructure projects to provide compensation to landowners.
The Ministry of Finance (MoF) recently gave the green signal to the MoPPW to use resources saved from e-tendering of other big and small projects for the Fast Track. The project had earlier demanded Rs 590 million from the MoF to provide compensation to landowners in Makwanpur and Kathmandu. The MoF instead told the ministry to mobilise funds saved from other projects.
"The total amount saved from e-tendering this year will be known within three weeks as we are doing the calculation of various projects," said Tulasi Prasad Sitaula, secretary at the MoPPW. He added that if the funds accumulated were not enough, they would again approach the MoF.
The MoPPW is short of money to buy land for the Fast Track road and railway construction in Biratnagar and Janakpur. Officials at the MoPPW said that the alternative was a temporary solution as they would still need huge amounts of money to acquire land for the express highway at Khokana, Lalitpur, to build a cross-border railway linking Rani Sikiyahi-Biratnagar and for upgrading the Janakpur-Jayanagar railway to broad gauge. They said that the MoF was also preparing to allow the rail project to use money left over from other projects.
This year the government had allocated Rs 350 million to the Fast Track project and Rs 40 million to the Railway Department for land acquisition. The Rail Department's estimate shows that it would need Rs 800 million to acquire 220 hectares of land for upgrading the Jayanagar-Bijulpura section of the Janakpur-Jayanagar Railway and 112 hectares to construct the Rani Sikiyahi-Biratnagar link.
Meanwhile, the Nepal Army, which is doing the track opening work of the planned 76 km Tarai Fast Track has been saying that delays in land acquisition and compensation distribution would affect work. The government targets to complete the track opening by mid-July this year.
Currently, the MoPPW is calculating the money saved from various projects already contracted such as the six-lane road expansion project, Biratnagar-Itahari and Butwal-Bhairahawa roads, North-South roads, regional roads and the Mid-Hills Highway (Western Section). Normally, the money saved from contracts goes into the national treasury. MoPPW officials said that the e-procurement system has been helping them to save 25-50 percent of the estimated project cost. The government last year announced implementing compulsory e-bidding for all government contracts worth more than Rs 20 million.
Source: Kantipur
