Govt allocates Rs 150m for land acquisition

The Ministry of Finance (MoF) has decided to release Rs 150 million for acquistion of land for the purpose of expanding and upgrading the country´s only existing railway line and building new railway track to connect Rani Sikiyahi and Biratnagar.

The government had floated a plan to upgrade the existing Janakpur-Jayanagar railway line linking Bardibas long ago. Recently, it had also laid plans to build a new railway line from Rani Sikiyahi to Biratnagar.

But Tulsi Prasad Sitaula, secretary at the Ministry of Physical Planning and Works (MoPPW), informed that the sum allocated by MoF was not enough to compensate the people for acquisition of their land.

"We need at least Rs 1.25 billion to acquire land for upgradation of the Janakpur-Bijulpura rail track and building new railway line from Rani Sikiyahi to Biratnagar," he said.

As of now, MoPPW has only been able to collect a total of Rs 390 million -- Rs 190 million from MoF and Rs 200 million from MoPPW.

The Indian government, which had agreed to build the railway track from Rani Sikiyahi to Biratnagar and upgrade the Janakpur-Bijulpura track, has been postponing the construction work citing failure of the Nepal government to arrange adequate land. As per the agreement between Nepal and India, the Indian government will have to bear construction expenses, while the Nepal government will have to allocate money for land acquisition.

The Indian government had agreed to upgrade the railway track from narrow gauge to broad gauge. "We need to acquire the land as soon as possible," secretary Sitaula said.

According to Sitaula, locals have been asked not to use their land for the last one year but the government has not been able to compensate them. He, however, expressed hope that the ministry may be able to start distributing compensation by next week. He also informed that the amount will be initially released to compensate land owners along the Janakpur- Bijulpura railway line. "After this we can request India to start upgrading the tracks," he said.

According to DoR, a total of 220 hectares of land is acquired to upgrade Janakpur-Bijulpura rail track to broad gauge. "Since land in Janakpur is expensive, the amount we have may not be enough," said a DoR official.

Interestingly, parliament´s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) had directed MoF to release the required amount to upgrade and expand the railway track last August.

"The released amount is not sufficient but it somehow is enough to get the work started," said Hridayesh Tripathi, minister for physical planning and works. "The good thing is that, we can at least compensate some of the land owners."

Govt endorses inception report on metro rail

The government has approved the preliminary inception report of metro rail in the Kathmandu Valley and has asked the consulting companies to start feasibility study for laying down a mass rapid transit system to ease traffic in the city.

Korea Transport Institution, Chungsuk Engineering Company, Kunwa Consulting and Engineering Company, Korea Rail Netwrk Authority and two local companies, BDANepal Private Limited and EMRC Private Ltd, that prepared the inception report will start the feasibility study soon, said a senior official at Ministry of Physical Planning and Works (MoPPW).

"They will submit the feasibility report of the Metro by coming October," said Tulsi Prasad Sitaula, secretary at the Ministry. The study will ascertain feasibility of laying railway tracks, types of technology, coaches and other details, and also assess the cost of its development.

As part of the feasibility study, the consulting firms plan to conduct trial run of metro rail in Kalanki and Satdobato area, according to Mahendra Thakur, deputy team leader of the consulting groups. "We have to do that in order to know how much it costs to build the foundation," Thakur said, adding that the trail will give technical inputs on whether it is possible to make underground rail track in the given places or not.

The inception report that the groups shared with experts and top MoPPW officials, inlcuding Minister Hridayesh Tripathi, on Thursday has proposed laying down 5 different lines and 31 stations.

Speaking about problems that might arise once the construction of rail while actually starting the construction of rail tracks in the Kathmandu Valley, Minister Tripathi said that the land pooling could emerge as a major problem.

"But Metro in Kathmandu is a highly prioritized program of the government and we will press ahead with full dedication to implement it," he stated. Tripathi also noted that the project would be completely handled by expert technicians, but he requested the consulting firms to focus on minimizing the need of land acquisition as far as possible.

Among others, the inception report explicitly cites that the system should have a dedicated power system of its own to ensure uninterrupted supply of electricity.
"I am hopeful that we will be able to make such arrangement in the near future," said Tripathi.

The study team members said that they will develop a complete design concept of the metro by the end of coming August. After that they will begin financial assessments.

"The cost developing metro will be known only after the completion of feasibility report," said Thakur.

Given the technical preciseness and other factors, Secretary Sitaula said that the government will develop the railway lines in different phases. "Therefore, I request the study team also to prioritize the lines," he said.

Department of Railway (DoR) also shared the preliminary report of detail project report (DPR) of Simara-Bardibas segment and Simara-Birgunj linkage of the proposed East-West Railway Line. Officials said the completed report of the DPR will come out in 10 months.