Land prices skyrocket after construction of Kothiyaghat bridge

KOHALPUR, Nov 11:

Land prices in Rajapur and nearby village development committees (VDCs) have skyrocketed with the construction of a bridge over the Karnali River at Kothiyaghat.

Land plots, which used to cost Rs 200,000 per kattha before the bridge came into operation, are now priced as high as Rs 2 million per kattha.

Som Lal Tharu, a staff involved in construction of the bridge, said realty transactions have increased significantly after the bridge came into operation. "People are busy transforming farm land into land plots," he added.

According to locals, it was difficult to find buyers for their land until about a month ago. Now land transactions gained momentum as people from Banke, Bardiya, Kailali, Kanchanpur, Surkhet and Dang, among others, are visiting the place to buy land plots, they said.

Not only in Rajapur VDC, land prices have gone up in neighboring Khairi Chandanpur VDC as well. Santosh Kumar Nepali, a resident of Khairichandanpur-9, said land transactions in his village have increased recently. "We had never imagined that the price of land will go this high. Price has increased by 10 times," he said, adding, "Land plots, which used to be sold at Rs 200,000-Rs 300,000 per kattha, are getting offers of Rs 2-3 million.”

Nepali said land prices will increase further once the Postal Highway, which links Nepalgunj, Bardiya, Rajapur, Kailali and Tikapur, comes into operation.

Local businessmen expect land price to go as high as Rs 5 million per kattha once the dirt road in the area is blacktopped and bridge is built to connect Kailali and Bardiya.

The government has already opened tender for blacktopping of the road and construction of the bridge.

Source: Republica