KATHMANDU, April 26: NIMSDAI Foundation has collaborated with the local government (Khumbu Pasang Lhamu Rural Municipality) to conduct Lobuche Porter’s Accommodation Project. NIMSDAI Foundation is contributing 96.6 percent of the project cost and the local government is contributing 3.4 percent of the total project cost.
According to a press statement issued by the Foundation, this initiative reflects the government's commitment to promoting the welfare and dignity of porters, ensuring their safety and well-being while contributing to the overall sustainability and prosperity of the tourism sector in Lobuche as well as in the Khumbu Region.
By providing porters with access to decent accommodation and essential amenities, the government aims to improve their living standards, enhance their working conditions, and foster a supportive and inclusive environment for all members of the trekking community by implementing a Lobuche Porter’s Accommodation Project.
The statement reads, “due to limited private land in Lobuche, the hotel owners can’t expand their business with better facilities for porter’s. The land belongs to the buffer zone and Local government but they don’t have such funds for the project which led injustice to porters and always remains a big agenda in every meeting of Rural Municipality. In collaboration with the local government and NIMSDAI Foundation, a better porter’s accommodation with basic facilities will be established supporting the porters who are the ‘unsung heroes of the mountains’”.
The total project cost for the Project Implementation is Rs 6,39,94,193.84 (£ 381,963.67) where program cost is Rs 6,17,89,193.84 (£ 368,802.64) and admin cost is Rs 22,05,000 (£ 13,161.04). The program cost consists of construction cost of Rs 5,89,95,443.84 (£ 352,127.51) and Rs 27,93,750 (£16,675.12) for technical supervision, public Audit and Public Hearing and Project Handover Cost.
Porters are forced to sleep in dining halls, floors, stores etc. with uncomfortable conditions with insufficient bedding and inadequate ventilation affecting the health and hygiene, quality of rest of porter’s contributing to fatigue and exhaustion. With the completion of the project, the porters will have proper insulated buildings with proper bedding which supports to mitigate the fatigue, exhaustion, altitude sickness enhancing overall safety and well-being of porters during their treks, as per the statement.
As many as 4640 porters are expected to benefit from the project. (58,000 Trekkers Visit the Khumbu Region, out of which 46,400 (80 percent) of the trekkers trek in the Everest route for which 23,200 (1 porters for 2 trekkers) porters travel to Lobuche in a year. Out of 23,200 porters, porters are repeated 5 times resulting in 4,640 porters being benefited in minimum).