Officials at the Ministry of Physical Planning and Works (MoPPW) said implementation of major projects across the country was facing a snag due to people´s demand for high compensation rate against land acquired for the projects.[break]
"Donor agencies have been raising concerns on slow progress in implementation of the projects due to prolonged dispute over compensation as well as security issues," Kamal Raj Pandey, joint secretary at the MoPPW, told Republica on Monday.
Pandey, who heads the Foreign Aid Division of the MoPPW, said construction of Integrated Check Post (IPC) along Nepal-India border, Kathmandu-Tarai Fast Track Project and 20 postal roads in Tarai districts has been hampered due to compensation row.
“Worse still, people, who had already received compensation for the land they provided for Birgunj ICP a couple of years ago, have started demanding additional compensation. This is making things complicated,” Pandey added.
A meeting of Joint Steering Committee for Implementation of ICP projects had decided to start construction of ICP at Birgunj customs from July, 2010. However, the project has not seen much progress due to prolonged compensation row.
Officials of Nepal and India on Aug 3, 2005 had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to build ICPs at Biratnagar, Birgunj, Bhairahawa and Nepalgunj customs points in Nepali side and corresponding customs offices in the Indian side.
“We had signed an agreement with an Indian contractor on July 15, 2010 to complete construction of ICP at Birgunj customs within 14 months, but only 10 percent of the works have been completed so far,” he added.
Indian officials led by Satish Mehata, joint secretary of the Ministry of External Affairs, on Monday held discussion with officials of the MoPPW and voiced concerns over disruption in construction of Birgunj ICP and Tarai roads.
India has completed construction of more than 50 percent of the project on its side of the Birgunj customs.
The government had completed land acquisition for Birgunj ICP three years ago, paying Rs 170 million as compensation for 101 bighas of land.
India has agreed to provide Rs 5 billion for the construction of ICPs at four customs points as per the Mirror Image Concept under which same facilities and structures will be built on either sides of the border.
The project is expected to help establish systematic and properly inter-connected border check post with uniform facilities in both the sides. The ICPs are also expected help boost bilateral trade.
Similarly, the process of opening track for construction of the much-touted Kathmandu-Tarai Fast Track has been severely affected due to demands for exorbitant compensation for land acquired for the project by the people of Kathmandu, Lalitpur and Makawanpur districts. The government is acquiring a total of 140 bighas of land in Kathmandu, Lalitpur, Makwanpur and Bara districts for the project.
Tarai Road Project is also facing a snag as locals are demanding higher compensation rate for land acquired for the project. The government is acquiring 781 hectares of land for the project.
The first meeting of Nepal-India Joint Steering Committee had decided to commence construction of Tarai postal roads to be implemented with joint funding of both governments from December 2010. The project aims to construct a total of 19 roads spanning 605 km in different Tarai districts.
The roads will link district headquarters and East-West Highway with southern parts of Tarai.
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