KATHMANDU, June 7: The construction of the East-West Railway — a National Pride Project — started a decade ago. However, the project has not been able to gather speed as the compensation issue for the land acquired for the project’s construction has still not been resolved.
The government started the construction of the project in the fiscal year 2009/10. While the essential works of the two sections of the East-West Railway have witnessed some form of progress at present, the entire project has not been able to progress at the expected pace.
The government has estimated that the construction of the Bardibas-Nijgadh section of the East-West Railway will cost Rs 70.61 billion. A trackbed of 70 kilometers has to be constructed in the Bardibas-Nijgadh section of the railway alone.
Director-General of the Railway Department, Deepak Kumar Bhattarai said that so far 51 kilometers of the 70 kilometers have been constructed in the Bardibas Nijgadh section.
Five railway bridges have been constructed in this section. Even though the government had set a target to complete the construction of the trackbed of the Bardibas-Nijgadh section within the current fiscal year, with the year coming to an end, only two kilometers of the trackbed have been constructed. The government had set a target of completing the construction of 21 kilometers of trackbed in the current fiscal year.
According to the department, 49 kilometers of the trackbed had been constructed in this section until the previous fiscal year. With the construction of an additional two kilometers of trackbed in the current fiscal year, the trackbed is now 51 kilometers. On the one hand, the trackbed construction has been behind; on the other hand, the government has not been able to provide adequate budget for the distribution of compensations in the Bardibas section.
The department says that the section requires more than Rs 3 billion to distribute the compensations; however, the government has allocated Rs 940 million in the coming fiscal year budget for the construction of various railway structures including the side of the Bardibas station that is on the east of Nijgadh. Similarly, a budget of Rs 1 billion has been allocated for the construction of bridges at Chocha in the section and Rs 750 million has been allocated for the construction of the trackbed. The Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport has allocated Rs 5.5 billion for the development of metro rail and monorail in the coming fiscal year.
The land acquisition process has not yet taken place in the affected areas near the Kankadavitta-Inaruwa section of the East-West Railway. The government had forwarded a plan in the budget of the current fiscal year to start the construction work of the Kankadvitta-Inaruwa section by completing the land acquisition process and other preparations. With only 10 days left until the end of the current fiscal year, the work in the section has not progressed as of yet.
The budget statement for the current fiscal year mentions the aim of preparing a detailed project report for the Nijgadh-Aparaparuni section. It was planned that the construction work of the remaining section would be advanced by arranging the financial resources for the project. Director-General of the Railway Department Bhattarai said that the work in the section could not be done as per the target.
“As much as 605 hectares of land needs to be acquired in the Kankadvitta-Inaruwa section alone, ” he said. “According to the assessment of 2020/21, it has been estimated that more than Rs 24 billion would have to be borne as costs for the distribution of compensations. However, the government has not yet secured the amount and at the same time, the land acquisition process has also not been able to pick up speed.
The government has allocated only Rs 1 billion for the distribution of compensations in the sector in the coming fiscal year. Director-General Bhattarai said that since the Rs 1 billion that the government had allocated for the land acquisition process in the upcoming fiscal year has fallen short, additional funds have been requested.
“We have sent a circular to the ministry to take the necessary steps to ensure the budget,” he said. “We will be able to take forward the distribution of the compensation once the budget is ensured.” Director-General Bhattarai said that the contract for the construction of this section would not be advanced without prior preparations. He said that if the land acquisition process is to begin, then Rs 6-7 billion would be needed in the first year itself. “We will only initiate contracting the work only after the distribution of compensation starts,” he said.