KATHMANDU, SEP 25 -The construction of the much-talked-about Kathmandu-Kulekhani Tunnel Highway is all set to begin from November 11. An executive committee meeting of Nepal Purbadhar Bikas Company (NPBC) held on Monday decided to kick start the construction work.
Last Monday, the first annual general meeting (AGM) of NPBC elected a new executive committee under the chairmanship of Kush Kumar Joshi. Other members of the committee are Jayaram Lamichhane, Pradip Jung Pandey, Sukunta Lal Hirachan, Subash Chandra Thakuri, Sidhi Lal Shrestha, Mohan Basnet, Rajuman Maharjan and Nugal Ananda Baidhya. Lal Krishna KC has been elected vice-chairman of the company.
NPBC was established last year to build the tunnel highway , a national toll road of Asian Highway Standards. “We found November 11 the appropriate date after festival to start construction,” said Joshi, addressing a press conference here on Tuesday. He said the construction would complete as per the schedule.
NPBC has targeted to complete the construction of the 58-km highway by December 2016, making Hetauda only an hour’s drive away from Kathmandu.The highway will have three tunnels with a combined distance of 4.5 km in Chobhar, Kulekhani and Bhaise. In a bid to attract investment in the project, the AGM has also decided to devise a favorable rule for individual and collaborative investors.
As per NPBC, 40 percent of the shares would be floated among general investors. The project, which is being executed under the private, public and people’s partnership (4Ps) model based on the Private Financing in Build and Operation of Infrastructure Act 2006 (BOOT Act), is estimated to cost Rs 35 billion.
Around 200,000 individuals, private sector institutions, local government bodies of Kathmandu, Lalitpur and Makawanpur are expected to invest Rs 10,000-Rs 1 million in the project. The Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI), FCAN, bank and financial institutions, Nepal Association of Foreign Employment Agencies and Non-resident Nepalese are some of the institutional investors.
Besides, NPBC has signed an agreement with companies like International Money Transfer and Prabhu Maney Transfer to bring investment of Nepalis working abroad through remittance.
Four months ago, NPBC received the government permission to build the tunnel highway , which is the first toll road of the country under the build-operate-transfer (BOT) model.
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