SEZ to open in Bhairahawa in Feb

KATHMANDU, JAN 13 -

The country’s first Special Economic Zone (SEZ) is scheduled to open in Bhairahawa by the first week of February. According to the SEZ Development Committee, the infrastructure, which was 12 years in the making, is in the final stages of construction.

The committee said that administrative blocks and service centres along with other facilities had been constructed. The water treatment plant is near completion.

Meanwhile, Shankar Man Singh, executive director of the committee, said that they had readied a final draft of the operational manual. “We will soon be submitting the draft to the cabinet through the Industry Ministry for its approval,” he added.

According to Singh, a committee led by the industry secretary has been entrusted with the task of implementing the operational manual. The committee will select prospective private organizations to operate the SEZ. Singh said they were preparing to invite expressions of interest from interested firms.

“Export-oriented firms will be given priority to set up their production plants in the SEZ.” The Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry and district chambers, among other bodies, are members of the committee.


"The government has spent around Rs 520 million on the construction of the infrastructure and acquisition of land for the SEZ. The administrative blocks cost around Rs 60 million and the service centres around Rs 50 million.  The SEZ is spread over 35 hectares and has been divided into 68 plots of 2,200 sq m each. It is expected to house over 200 factories. Singh said that construction should have started in mid-April last year, but it did not happen due to lack of a legal framework and delays in selecting a contractor. “Three A class constructing companies have been working at full speed to complete the construction,” Singh said.

Last year, the government  decided to run the SEZ through a SEZ Development Committee after its attempt to introduce a separate act through an ordinance failed.

The proposed act has mentioned providing special treatment to factories located inside the SEZs including total exemption from income tax for five years and a 50 percent exemption from income tax for another five years after that.

“However, due to lack of a legal framework, the government is yet to decide the facilities to be offered to factories that will be established inside the SEZ,” Singh said.  

Apart from Bhairahawa , the committee has been working to set up SEZs in Biratnagar, Panchkhal and Simara. “We are in the process of acquiring land at these proposed locations.”

“We have identified 40 bighas of forest land in Panchkhal and 50 bighas of land belonging to Salt Trading in the Sunsari-Morang corridor,” he said. An environment impact assessment has been started in Simara by forming an all-party committee. According to the committee,  studies have been completed for setting up similar zones in Kapilvastu, Jumla and Dhangadhi while surveys are being done in Rautahat, Gorkha, Siraha and Dhanusha.

(Source: The Kathmandu Post)