Land, energy big problems for railway development

KATHMANDU, JAN 14 -

Minister for Physical Planning, Works and Transport Management Hridayesh Tripathi said on Sunday that land acquisition and energy shortage were the major hindrance to railway development in the country.

The government has been planning to build a railway linking the country's eastern and western borders. The proposed Mechi-Mahakali Railway will be 1,371-km long and is scheduled to be completed within 10 years. A consortium of consultants hired by the government is scheduled to complete a detailed project report (DPR) and design for the Bardibas-Simara (102 km) and Simara-Birgunj (34 km) sections by mid-March.

Addressing an interaction on a draft of the DPR, Minister Tripathi said that the government would see how the cost can be reduced as there was a big problem with land acquisition, higher demand for compensation and electricity. "It is also true that there is no alternative to building a railway and linking it with the network of neighbouring countries to boost the economy."

The draft DPR has stated that construction of the Bardibas-Simara-Birgunj section would cost Rs 99.22 billion. Similarly, it will cost Rs 4.26 billion for land acquisition and resettlement and Rs 9.5 billion for rolling stock.

The consortium of consultants includes three Korean firms (Korea Rail Network Authority, Kunhwa Consulting and Engineering and Chungsuk Engineering), two local firms (Fulbright Consultancy and Shah Consulting) and an Indian firm (International Consulting Technocrats).

"Our study has showed that the construction cost will be Rs 720 million per kilometre," said Lal Krishna KC of Fulbright Consultancy during his presentation on the draft DPR. He added that if the government effectively continues the project, the Bardibas-Simara-Birgunj section could be brought into commercial operation within five years.

The section will have 15 stations, one heavy maintenance workshop in Simara and a light workshop in Birgunj. The proposed track alignment will pass through 24 village development committees of Mahottari, Sarlahi, Rautahat, Bara and Parsa districts and link the Janakpur-Jayanagar Railway via Bardibas to the Integrated Checkpoint Complex in Birgunj. According to the draft DPR, the government should adopt a design-bid-build model to construct the railway with 95 percent soft loans from donor agencies and 5 percent from the government. It said that a full public private partnership procurement model was not suitable due to the possibility of early bond default, taxpayer bailout and investment losses by private funding participants.  

Tulasi Prasad Sitaula, secretary of the Physical Planning Ministry, said that the DPR was the initial phase of developing railway transport. He added that the government would continue preparing DPRs of other sections as they would help to seek resources from donors to implement the railway plan.

In the next phase, the Department of Railways is planning to prepare DPRs for the Simara-Tamsariya (114 km) and Tamsariya-Butwal-Bhairahawa (109 km) sections. "We will be selecting consultants within a month after completing evaluation of the expressions of interest submitted by them," said Rajeshwor Man Singh, superintendent engineer of the department. He added that a cross-border railway link will be constructed linking Nautanwa of India with Bhairahawa with support from the government of India.

Source: The Kathmandu Post