Tulasi Prasad Sitaula, secretary of the Physical
Infrastructure Ministry handed over the letter to Chairman of the NPBC Kush
Kumar Joshi amid a function on Tuesday. The NPBC, which was especially
established to under take the tunnel highway project has set the target go
complete the construction of 58 km highway within four year making Hetauda only
an hour drive from Kathmandu .
The highway that will start from Balkhu in Kathmandu
will have three tunnels with total distance of 4.5 km in Chobhar, Kulekhani and
Bhaise to reach Hetauda. The tunnel highway is estimated to cost Rs 34.5
billion. The tunnel highway is being carried out based on the Private Financing
in Build and Operation of Infrastructure Act 2006 (BOOT Act) through the
private, public and people’s partnership.
“This has become first project that is going to be
implemented after seven years of enactment of the BOOT Act,” said Situala,
addressing the commencement letter handover programme. He said that the
operation of the tunnel highway would cut the travel distance and help save
around Rs 15 billion a year reducing the fuel consumption. He also directed the
NPBC to present the financial closer within a year as per the concession
agreement.
As per the agreement reached with the government last
Tuesday, the company has to present the financial closer within a year to
assure the government about the resources required to construct the highway.
The highway will be handed over to the government by the NPBC after 30 years
(in 2043) of operation based on the BOOT Act.
Sitaula said that the government would also continuously
monitor the project and provide support as required. The tunnel highway is the
second large scale highway project after the Kathmandu-Tarai Fast Track road,
which is also planned under the BOOT modality. The NPBC has stated that it
would complete the project within the stipulated time using the internal resources.
Chairman of the NPBC Joshi said that the project was
“challenge as well as opportunity” for the tunnel highway being first of its
kind entrusted by the government to develop using the local resources and
expertise. “We will be able to payback to investors within 8-12 years,” he
added saying that the toll rate was fixed in the range of Rs 160 to 3,000 per
vehicle depending on their types.
The Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and
Industry, Federation of Contractors Association of Nepal, bank and financial
institutions, Nepal Association of Foreign Employment Agencies, Non-resident
Nepalese, around 200,000 general people and local government bodies of Kathmandu ,
Lalitpur and Makawanpur are investing in the tunnel highway. The NPBC said that
they would start the construction work within a month.
“We will be constructing the highway in different packages under
road, bridges and tunnel sections,” said Lal Krishna KC, vice chairman of the
NPBC during his presentation in the programme. He added apart from three
tunnels there would be 25 bridges including 16 big ones and huge land feeling
for making the road shorter, reducing vehicle operation cost and travel time.
Fast Track RFP submission date extended
KATHMANDU, MAY 22--The Physical Infrastructure Ministry on Tuesday extended the
bid submission date of the Fast Track road by yet another one month. Additional
time was provided as per the demand of the short-listed firms to submit the
proposal to develop the express highway.
“We have provided time of up to June 21 after the Larsen and
Turbo (L&T) Infrastructure Development Projects sought more time,” said
Situala. Three Indian firms—Reliance Infrastructure, Infrastructure Leasing
& Financial Services (IL&FS) and L&T are in the race to win
contract of the Fast Track road, 76 km. Earlier in February too, the government
had extended the deadline by one month till May 21.
The Indian firms had been demanding to extend the deadline
saying that they were not able to complete the detailed engineering survey of
the express highway to prepare the proposal for the project. “Out of the three
firms, only L&T seems serious to bag the project,” said Situala.
Originally, issuing the request for proposal (RFP) in
December last year, the government had provided four months until April 21 to
come up with financial and technical proposals to build the road under the BOOT
model. The RFP requires the bidding firms to carry detailed surveys,
investigations and other detailed examination of the project visiting sites
before submitting their bids.
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