KATHMANDU, SEP 03 -The government has planned to start work on the track bed of the East West Electrical Railway after the festive season ends in November. On Monday, it invited tenders for the construction of the track bed on a 5-km stretch of the Simara-Bardibas section of the proposed railway . The track bed is the foundation on which the railway track will be laid.
The Department of Railways said that it would select three contractors within the next two months to construct the track bed in three packages. As per the plan, the contractors will have to start work immediately after the festivals based on the detailed project report (DPR) readied by South Korean consultants.
The DPR of the 108-km Simara-Bardibas section of the East-West Railway was completed last year. “Construction of the track bed will cost Rs 500 million,” said Rajeshwor Man Singh, superintendent engineer of the department.
The scope of the tender issued for the track bed includes construction of cross drainage structures, animal crossings, underpasses, embankments, earthen drains and bio-engineering works. However, even though the tender notice has been published, the exact locations where the track bed will be constructed have not been finalised yet.
Department officials said that preparations for issuing a notice for land acquisition and compensation distribution were at the final stages. As per Singh, work will start from the Simara end of the route. The ambitious railway project will connect Kakkarbhitta in the east with Gaddachauki in the west passing through various business hubs in the Tarai.
According to the department, the Simara-Bardibas section is considered to be one of the most suitable sections for developing a railway network as the Indian government is supporting Nepal to extend the Janakpur-Jayanagar railway up to Bardibas using broad gauge track. The DPR conducted by the Korean firms had concluded that the construction of the Simara-Bardibas section (including Simara-Birgunj link of 36 km) will cost around Rs 100 billion, depending on the facilities, safety measures, quality and level of service to be incorporated.
The DPR has shown that the government will need Rs 4.26 billion for land acquisition and resettlement for the Simara-Bardibas section. The government has aimed to start the construction of the railway this year as mentioned in the budget announcement for the current fiscal year.
Rs 1.4 billion has been allocated for railway works in the current fiscal year which will be used for the construction of the 5-km-long track bed and the DPR of the Butwal-Gaddachauki section, among other tasks. Of the total Rs 1.07 billion, Rs 905.9 million was spent in the last fiscal year on distributing land compensation and conducting the DPR, according to the department.
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