150,000 people visited Dharahara in seven months
KATHMANDU, April 15: The government has collected over Rs 30 million in revenue since it opened Dharahara to the public. In the past seven months, more than 150,000 people have climbed the tower. Despite introducing a fee of Rs 200 per person, the number of visitors has remained high.
Prakash Aryal, head of the Central Project Implementation Unit under the Ministry of Urban Development, said the government collected Rs 30.164 million from Dharahara up to mid-April. Authorities opened the tower to the public in mid-September. Since then, 165,828 people have paid the entry fee to climb Dharahara.
The government started charging the Rs 200 fee on November 24. Before that, visitors accessed the tower for free. Officials had opened Dharahara to the public on September 19 last year to mark Constitution Day.
The federal government decided in mid-October to take full responsibility for operating and managing Dharahara. Based on that decision, the Ministry of Urban Development can lease the tower to the private sector for a fixed period if needed.
Dharahara raises Rs 23.7 million in revenue
The Ministry has deployed 13 staff members to handle Dharahara's daily operations. Officials currently open the tower at 10:30 AM and close it at 5 PM, requiring visitors to enter by 4:15 PM.
A ministry official said extending visiting hours from 8 AM to 8 PM could generate at least Rs 500,000 in daily revenue. However, the tower continues to operate under limited hours.
Damak View Tower remains non-operational
Authorities have yet to bring the view tower in Damak into commercial operation, even a year and a half after completing its construction. The contractor handed over the tower to the Urban and Building Construction Project Office in Jhapa, under the ministry, in mid-December 2023.
Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli formally inaugurated the tower on December 8, 2024. However, five months after the inauguration, officials have still not launched its commercial operation.
Spokesperson for the Ministry of Urban Development, Narayan Mainali, said the ministry has started the process to bring the Damak View Tower into commercial operation, even though it remains unused so far. The government continues to spend over Rs 200,000 monthly on its upkeep, including electricity, water, and general maintenance.
The ministry has not yet finalized key decisions regarding staff deployment and whether to impose an entry fee for visitors. Built at Rs 2 billion, the tower stands about six kilometers west of Damak Bazaar. Officials expect high operational and management costs due to its distance from the town center. Because of the remote location, they believe facilities such as shopping malls, gyms, hospitals, or beauty parlors are unlikely to turn a profit shortly.
The Damak View Tower occupies approximately five bighas of land in Ward No. 3 of Damak Municipality. The government signed the original contract on July 12, 2019, with a value of Rs 1.56 billion and a completion deadline set for July 11, 2021.
However, after the contractor missed the deadline, the government extended the timeline to July 12, 2023. When the project remained unfinished by this date, the government granted a third extension.
During the second extension, the project's budget increased by Rs 102.78 million, bringing the revised contract value to Rs 1.66 billion.
The government has decided to directly operate and manage six key structures, including the Damak View Tower, the Butwal International Conference Hall, the Sunrise Convention Hall in Godawari, and Dharahara. The government will place the operation and management of these structures under a single development committee within the Ministry.
A special management development committee will oversee the operation and management of the Damak View Tower, the International Conference Center in New Baneshwor, Kathmandu, the Sunrise Convention Hall in Godawari, Lalitpur, the Butwal International Conference Hall in Rupandehi, and the Butwal International Exhibition Center. The committee will be chaired by the Secretary of the Ministry of Urban Development, as stated in the official gazette published on November 18.
