"We have already started the designing work and are soon anticipating a consultant to finalize it," said Jagadishwor Shrestha, chief of SEZ Project -- a special unit under the Ministry of Industry (MoI).
As proposed some three years ago, GPZ will be developed in 100 bigahs of land in Simara, which is some 20 kilometers north of Birgunj. It will remain an integral part of the proposed SEZ site, for the purpose of which the government has already handed over 532 bigah of land previously owned by Birgunj Sugar Factory to the Ministry.
However, unlike the initial plan, which was to first design SEZ as a whole and then move on to develop GPZ, the government has decided to develop GPZ first and move on the SEZ development work.
The change in plan was adopted after India showed interest in it and committed grant assistance to Nepal to implement Birgunj SEZ, including feasibility study and construction.
MoI officials said that the change was made, as they believed two countries will need more time to complete negotiations on modality of constructions and management of SEZ. India has proposed public-private partnership for implementing the project.
"Discussions are on modalities to implement the SEZ´s study, design and construction work. As for the GPZ, the initiatives have been taken in consultation with and consent of a Indian government holding company for implementing the bilateral SEZ development project," said Shrestha.
He told myrepublica.com that the India has also agreed to reimburse the Project the money it will spend in the GPZ development process once the negotiations are complete and the proposed public-private joint venture takes over the development works.
The Project official has also forwarded a preliminary GPZ infrastructure development plan to National Planning Commission for approval and release of the required budget.
The Project office´s preliminary cost estimate for GPZ stands at Rs 70 million. The complete development of the Birgunj SEZ, on the other hand, is estimated to stand at Rs 3 billion.
Development of GPZ has been a long-running demand of Garment Association of Nepal (GAN). It has estimated that development of GPZ will reduce manufacturers´ production cost by 20 percent.
If constructed close to Birgunj dry port, which is linked with sea port with railway transport system, GPZ will lower transportation cost by up to 30 percent, GAN has said.
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