PM receives briefing on progress of Expressway

 Kathmandu, Feb. 5

Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli on Wednesday received a briefing on the progress, existing challenges, and possible solutions regarding the Kathmandu-Tarai/Madhes Expressway.

In a meeting held at the Office of the Prime Minister and the Council of Ministers at the Singha Durbar and attended by Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Bishnu Prasad Paudel, Minister for Physical Infrastructure and Transport Devendra Dahal, Minister for Defence Manbir Rai, PM’s Economic Affairs Advisor Dr. Yubaraj Khatiwada and Chief of Army Staff Ashok Raj Sigdel, PM inquired about the overall financial and physical progress made in the national pride project that would be the shortest connection between the Tarai and the Capital city Kathmandu.

The project is being built by the Nepali Army.

According to a statement issued by the PMO, the Nepali Army presented long-standing delays in land acquisition at Khokana in Lalitpur district, where the project begins, and slow progress in tree clearance within the project area as the key challenges.

However, Prime Minister Oli expressed confidence that the Army would ensure quality work, as the government had entrusted them with the project after careful consideration. He instructed the concerned ministries to further assess the Khokana land acquisition issue and propose a solution.

The Kathmandu-Tarai Expressway spans 70.97 km and has an estimated cost of Rs. 211.93 billion. The project was initiated in 2017 and revised deadline is March 2027. According to the Nepali Army, the project has so far achieved 37.6 per cent physical progress and 39.74 per cent financial progress.

As per the initial project design, it should have been completed last year.

The expressway begins at Khokana in Lalitpur and ends in Nijgadh of Bara district. It will have six tunnels of a total 10.055 km and 89 bridges of 12.88 km. 

 Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 6 February 2025.  

Development works should not have adverse impact on environment: Prez

Makwanpur, Jan. 24:

President Bidya Devi Bhandari said on Thursday that development work should not have negative impact on environment.

Addressing a special programme on the occasion of the 256^th Victory Day of the historical Makwanpurgadhi at Makwanpur Palace premises, she said that the climate change had severe repercussions on environment and recommended applying environment-friendly measures in development and construction works.

She expressed concerns about the deteriorating status of Chure Area and said that its conservation was necessary for the development of the hills and the Terai region.

"Conservation of forests results in the conservation of herbs, land and environment," she said.

She suggested creating a ring road around the Makwanpurgadhi connecting historical, archaeological, cultural and natural attractions around the historic fort where  the brave Gorkhalis had defeated the army of Bengal led by Nawab Mir Kassim Khan in 1763.

Gorkhali Army troops led by Nahar Singh Basnet, Sardar Banshi Raj Pandey and Gadhi-based troop led by Nandu Shah had fought with Khan's army.

Before the battle, Khan's army had occupied Gorkhali Army's post at Harnamadi and came up to Shikhar Katteri.

The day marks the Gorkhali Army's victory over Bengali Army. It was the first victory of Nepali Army over foreign invaders in Nepali land.

Stating that the fort has an important role in the victory of Nepali army and should be preserved for the future generations, President Bhandari said that as the heritage had high tourism potential, infrastructure should be developed at the earliest.

Chief Minister of State 3 Dor Mani Poudel pointed towards the need  for preserving the heritages like Makwanpurgadhi. He urged for greater cooperation and collaboration among the three levels of governments in preserving the historical, religious and cultural heritages in the State.

President Bhandari facilitated Badra Prasad Khatiwada and Kedar Neupane for their contribution in the promotion and publicity of the Gadhi.

The President also honoured the winners of half marathon organised to commemorate the victory of the Gorkhali army.

Likewise, she unveiled the stone scripture of flag that reflects all seven States of Nepal.

The President also performed worship at the Shri Krishna temple located in the palace premises.

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 25 January 2019. 

Hetauda Textile's building fit for running new plants

Kathmandu, July 22: The government-formed committee to analyse the status of the machinery, buildings and other infrastructure as well as the operation and financial modality of the already liquidated Hetauda Textile Industry has come to a preliminary conclusion that the buildings of the factory are fit enough to run textile plants.

The government is planning to reoperationalise the government-run and the largest textile factory in collaboration with the Nepal Army.

“Army is interested in bringing the dead industry back into life. Therefore, we are deliberating on the possible financing modalities,” said Shatrughna Prasad Pudasainee, Joint Secretary at the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies (MoICS) and coordinator of the team formed to study the status of the industry.

The committee will also recommend whether it would be practical for the government to run the textile mill in collaboration with the Nepal Army.

The team will submit its report to the Minister for Industry, Commerce and Supplies Matrika Prasad Yadav next week.

According to Pudasainee, the team has hold discussions with the former employees of the industry, industrial zone officials and other stakeholders.

“As per the discussions with the concerned stakeholders, the machinery at the industry is unfit to run the factory. We need to install modern machines with higher productivity,” he said.

Secretary of the MoICS Yam Kumari Khatiwada said that the government was positive with the army involvement in the industry’s revival process.

The committee also includes three senior army officials, a joint secretary from the Ministry of Finance, a textile engineer from the Department of Standard and Meteorology and a mechanical engineer as an independent expert.

Former Minister for Industry Nabindra Raj Joshi had started the revival of the textile mill and formed a committee to study the status of the factory. He had also decided to run it in collaboration with the Nepal Army, Nepal Police and Armed Police Force at the cost of Rs. 100 million.

The committee led by economist Dr. Puskhar Bajracharya had said that about 40 per cent equipment of the factory were in sound condition.

Established about four decades ago, the industry had the capacity to produce 36,000 metres of cloth per day.

It has been liquidated and merged into the Industrial District Management Limited.

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 23 July 2018. 

Land acquisition row hits works at Kathmandu-Terai Expressway

Kathmandu, Feb. 13: Land compensation dispute in the Lalitpur section of the Kathmandu-Terai Expressway has delayed the initial civil engineering works. 

About 70 per cent of the landowners in the Right of Way (RoW) of the expressway, from Zero Kilo, starting point of the road at Sano Khokana, to Makhkhu Beshi of Dakshinkali Municipality, have not accepted the compensation money from the government, claiming that the amount was much lower than the actual worth of their property. 

According to the Nepal Army, developer of the road project, the people are asking the government to review the compensation money set for the land acquisition. 

The NA said that it was waiting for the government’s decision on this, but the District Administration Office in Lalitpur has not yet given any decision.

At the same time, the locals have urged the NA to save the Shree Kali Temple, 1 km from Zero Kilo and Kudesh, an ancient settlement, and not to conduct any excavation works near the two religious and historic areas. 

“We are coordinating with the locals to preserve both the heritage sites. The NA conducted another survey in the areas and made an improvement in the alignment,” said Lieutenant Colonel D. K. Jha, Sector Commander of the Expressway project.   

The shortest road link that will connect the southern plains to the capital city will have 50 metre RoW, and 25 metre width on the 6-km long section in Lalitpur.  

A temporary bridge will be constructed at Chobhar to reach Zero Kilo from the Himal Cement Factory area until the outer ring road is constructed, said Ajit Shrestha, camp commander of the NA’s Makhkhubeshi Camp. 

As the toll plaza, camp and logistics will be constructed at Zero Kilo, the NA wants to start the initial works on the location at the earliest. 

The location has 39 ropanis of land, which was used as a military dropping zone in the past.

The NA will construct the road at this location, and altogether 17 km part will be constructed by the army while other sections will be tendered out to national and international construction companies.

The NA had opened the track of the 76.2 km long road about five years ago. 

After dilly-dallying of five years the government had handed over the project to the NA in August last year with a set time frame of four years. 

Published in The Rising Nepal, on 14 February 2018. 

Nepal Army mobilises Rs. 3.44 billion through microfinance scheme

Nuwakot, Feb. 6: The Nepal Army has provided small loans worth Rs. 3.44 billion to 20,820 former and serving army personnel through its microfinance programme.

At the end of the first six months of the current fiscal year 2017/18, the NA, in collaboration with Nepal Investment Bank Limited, has provided microfinance loans to 6,168 serving and 14,652 ex-army personnel.

“The NA has successfully implemented the microfinance programme to support the sitting and former army staff in entrepreneurship development. The programme has benefitted army personnel as well as their families,” Chief of Army Staff General Rajendra Chhetri said at the Ex-Army Conference at Maithali Barrack, Trishuli of Nuwakot district.

He also said that the NA’s Welfare Fund had increased to Rs. 42.69 billion, but only about Rs. 4 billion had been invested in various projects.

According to him, the army was trying to increase the access of the army personnel to the fund in order to support in their education, health and self-employment.

Chhetri urged the beneficiaries not to misuse the microfinance loan and promote entrepreneurship in their locality as well.

Retired Lieutenant General and Chief Executive Officer of the Welfare Fund said that the microfinance programme had been very effective in promoting entrepreneurship.

Each individual applying for the microfinance loan receives Rs. 100,000 to Rs. 700,000 to invest in a business.

CoAS Chhetri felicitated Dal Bahadur Adhikari and Lila Kumari Adhikari, ex-army personnel and spouse of the ex-army officer, both 99 years, on the occasion.

He distributed wheelchairs to disabled family members of army personnel, and awarded the best entrepreneurs.

A health camp was organised on the occasion where 839 people from Dhading, Nuwakot and Rasuwa underwent health check-up.

NA expedites construction work at Ktm-Terai Expressway

Nijgadh, Feb. 3:

The Nepal Army has cleared the forest at the Nijgadh subsection of the 76-kilometre Kathmandu-Terai Expressway and begun landfilling and compressing the road.

Currently, the NA is working on a 3-kilometre section at Nijgadh of Bara district in south central Nepal, starting from the Mahendra Highway, where road filling and levelling works are underway.

An 8-km stretch of the road project has already been cleared, and preliminary works are being carried out. 

“We have expedited the construction works here because the road filling work has to be finished before the monsoon, otherwise the road will be filled with water, and we might have to wait for about four months,” said Bharat Lal Shrestha, Lieutenant Colonel of the NA and the project’s Sector 2 Commander. 

The project aims to complete the earth filling works by June end.

The height of the road will be about 2 metres from the land level, and road filling and compression is done at every 15-inch thickness. 

The engineers had tested the compression level on the first 50 metres of the road on Friday and found it to be of the required standard. 

Chief of the project’s Camp at Nijgadh, Ramesh Marasini, said that the filling materials were being brought from Mauri Bheer (cliff), situated at the foothills about 8 km away.

“The materials of Mauri Bheer were tested and approved for use on the expressway. We fill the road about 15 inches and compress it, and the process is repeated until the desired height is achieved,” he said. 

The NA has expedited the construction of the national pride project, also known as the Fast Track Road, since January this year by clearing the trees on the road’s right of way starting from the Mahendra Highway at Nijgadh towards the north. 

However, the Army has not chopped down all the trees on the road right of way (RoW). It has cleared only about 30 metres in width while the expressway is 100 metres RoW in the Terai. 

The project wanted to keep the trees as far as possible. They are to be cut as per the necessity in the future. 

Brigadier General Bharat Bahadur Khadka is leading a troop of more than 150 army personnel to cut down the trees and clear the forest areas. 

Even though there are 5,500 trees on the RoW of the expressway, only 3,900 trees have been cut in the Nijgadh area, said Khadka, who is now working at Budune of Makwanpur district.

“About 15 km in area remains to be cleared. As we have a large team from the army and needed cooperation from the concerned government agencies, such as the Department of Forests, the work will conclude soon,” he said. 

As many as 15,000 trees need to be chopped down for the project.

The NA had opened an 80-km-long track of the multi-billion-rupee project five years ago.

Erstwhile Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda had laid the foundation stone for the expressway - the shortest route connecting the capital city with the Terai - in May last year.

The government had, through a Cabinet decision, handed over the road project to the NA in August 2017, and the latter aims at completing the national pride project in four years. 

After more than five years of dilly-dallying about how to build the road and the financial modality to be adopted, the KP Sharma Oli administration had announced that the expressway would be built by Nepal itself.

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 4 February 2018.