Biratnagar SEZ in doldrums

Kathmandu, Jan. 24:

The Biratnagar Special Economic Zone (SEZ) project is in the doldrums due to the land acquisition challenges.

There is no proper coordination and communication among the concerned government agencies for the development of the project as the Ministry of Industry (MoI), Ministry of Finance (MoF), SEZ Authority and local government blame each other for the interruption in the development of the SEZ.

The SEZ Development Committee, under the SEZ Authority, wanted to buy about 800 bighas of land of the erstwhile Morang Sugar Mills Limited, a government run corporation which is now shut, at Rani Sikiyahi, Biratnagar for the project.

Managing Director of SEZ Chandika Prasad Bhatta said that the authority was in the process of obtaining the land free of cost and awaiting a nod from the Finance Ministry.

The government had provided the land to the mill free of cost, so the SEZ expects the land to be provided free of cost for the government-run project with the consent of the MoF.

The MoF and MoI have said that they were positive regarding land management for the SEZ in Biratnagar and will support it in every possible way.

But officials in both the ministries have very little idea about the progress being made by the project.

A senior official at the MoI admitted that there had been no significant progress in project development in the past couple of years.

"It seems that the project is not a priority of the government. I have heard that the file of the project is stuck in the Finance Ministry. The business community of Biratnager has sent multiple delegations to the SEZ and ministries,but our voice has not been heard," said Mukesh Upadhyaya, president of Udhyog Sangathan Morang.

Many ministers had also visited the project area and promised to build the SEZ at the location.

According to him, the industrialists have long been lobbying for the establishment of the SEZ in the metropolis, and the Biratnagar Metropolitan City Office (BMCO) was also very positive about the project.

Mayor of the metropolis Bhim Parajuli said that the SEZ was a major agenda of his for the development of the industrial city.

"We want to build it at the earliest and want to include a railway line up to the SEZ. All the political parties, business associations and industrialists are forrealising the project," he said.

Many industries in and around Birgunj had moved to the Biratnagar-Itahari Industrial Corridor, Hetauda and other areas following the disturbances during the multiple movements in Terai-Madhes in the past decade.

As cross-border railway lines are being developed at the Jogbani border, Biratnagar SEZ can be an attraction to both domestic and Foreign Direct Investment, said Parajuli.

The government has unveiled a plan to develop a SEZ in each of the provinces – Biratnagar, Simara, Bhairahawa, Jumla, Panchkhal, Dhangadhi and Gorkha.

But so far only Bhairahawa SEZ has been completed, and the future of the rest remains uncertain.