“We have asked the Ministry of Finance to extend the committee’s term by three months,” said Tulsi Prasad Sitaula, joint secretary of the Physical Planning Ministry. He added they had sought additional time as the task of acquiring land, particularly from people who had long been staying on government-owned land, was yet to be completed.
Following a cabinet decision, the government had formed the committee to make land acquisition easier for the Kathmandu-Tarai Fast Track Project with a three-month term. However,
land acquisition from people possessing land ownership certificates and those who had been living on government land had not progressed as anticipated. According to officials of the ministry, this would affect the track opening work.
The Nepal Army, which has been entrusted with the job of opening the track, has been currently working in jungle areas and areas where there is no land ownership issues. It has opened 30 km of track so far.
Coordinator of the committee Chet Nath Ghimire said that work had not been completed on time as they had to deal with land issues in all the four districts of Bara, Makwanpur, Lalitpur and Kathmandu through which the proposed highway passes by collecting data of government land being occupied by people. “It might look simple, but the matter of land is really complicated as many people have been found to be living on government land for more than 30 years,” he added.
According to the committee, most of the government land being occupied lies in Chhatiwan VDC in Makwanpur district. There are more than 150 families staying on government land who said that they owned the plots but did not have title deeds due to the government’s negligence.
Out of the total length of 76 km of the proposed highway, around 61 km falls in Makwanpur where the government has to provide compensation for around 40 percent of the land which is privately owned. The government has to pay compensation for around 15 km of land in Kathmandu and Lalitpur and 18 km in Bara that lies along the route of the planned fast track highway.
The project has been facing problems regarding land acquisition, particularly in Makwanpur district, where 61 km of the highway falls. The government has allocated Rs 350 million for purchasing land during the current fiscal year. However, not even a penny has been spent over the last 10 months due to the delay in fixing the price of the land by the respective District Administration Offices.
The Kathmandu-Tarai Fast Track Project has published a notice for compensation for land falling in the project area in Makwanpur. However, the District Administration Office is reluctant to fix the price of privately-owned land and distribute compensation without reaching a specific conclusion on the issue of government-owned land and the people living on it.
“The CDO office of Makwanpur has asked not to release any funds for now saying that there could be protests if the government provided compensation only for privately-owned land,” said a senior official at the ministry. The official added that there had been problems regarding whether to resettle people staying on government-land or pay them cash.
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