Though it has already been six years that Nepal and India signed formal agreement to implement the project, the project is moving at a slow pace due to the government´s failure to acquire required land.[break]
“We failed to acquire land for the project on time,” Hariom Srivastav, joint secretary at the Ministry of Physical Planning, Works and Transport Management (MoPPWTM), said.
The Indian government had agreed in principle to develop and upgrade the link roads in Tarai region in 2004. It had signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to implement the project in June, 2006.
As per the MoU, Nepal has to arrange land required for the project. It also has to make bridges on the proposed roads. India has agreed to extend financial and technical support for construction of roads.
In the first phase, the project aims to construct and upgrade around 600 roads. It envisages constructing a total of 1,500 km link roads under three phases. A total of 19 feeder roads, including Janakpur-Bhittamod, Lamahi-Koilabas, Nawalpur-Malangwa and Janakpur-Jatahi, are to be developed and upgraded in the first phase.
“Despite our slow work progress, the Indian government has already awarded tenders to develop the link roads in different Tarai,” Srivastav said.
Meanwhile, a bi-lateral meeting of Project Steering Committee (PSC) has been scheduled for Wednesday to review the project status and identify reasons behind the delay in project implementation.
“Basically, there are problems in our part. However, we will discuss all the issues related to the project,” Srivastav, who is also leading the Nepali side in the joint-secretary level meeting, said.
Akhilesh Mishra, joint secretary at India´s Ministry of External Affairs (MoEA), is leading the Indian delegation in the meeting.
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