The rate will be Rs 100,000 - Rs 275,000 per kattha (3,638.20 square feet). [break]
The dispute over the price on which the government can acquire land for the proposed 76-km express highway was settled after Central Regional Administrator Madhav Regmi intervened to speed up the acquisition process. He called an all-party meeting in Hetauda to forge consensus over the land price.
“I pushed for an all-party consensus mainly because lingering the issue would only add burden to the government as prices have been escalating with time,” said Regmi told Republica.
“A tentative agreement has been reached at the all-party meeting to pay Rs 100,000 - Rs 275,000 per kattha depending on the location and valuation as compensation to landowners,” said a participant in the all-party meeting.
The government has to acquire 1,400 kattha of land in seven VDCs of Makawanpur, five VDCs in Lalitpur, one VDC in Kathmandu and Bara districts, requiring around Rs 500 million in compensation.
There was a dispute over how to fix the price of land to be acquired, making the compensation distribution process delayed by more than a year.
A High Level Committee to Facilitate Land Acquisition for Kathmandu-Tarai Fast Track Road had suggesed to fix price in the range of Rs 80,000 to Rs 280,000 per ropani (5,476 square feet) depending on the location of land. However, local villagers were demanding almost double the price estimated by the high-level committee.
Though the government had released Rs 46 million in 2009/10 and also allocated additional Rs 340 million in 2010/11 for compensation to the land owners, the amount couldn´t be spent due to delay in fixing the price of land in Makawanpur district.
“Now that compensation amount has been agreed upon, we are going to start land acquisition for the proposed four-lane super highway within a month,” said Regmi. Process of land acquisition in Kathmandu, Lalitpur and Bara would follow the process in Makawanpur.
Clearing the confusion over who would be eligible for compensation, a high-level committee in September had recommended to the government to provide compensation equal to 75 percent of the land value for the residents not possessing land ownership certificates.
The team had clarified that the settlers who are residing for over 20 years are eligible to get the compensation against the acquisition of their land.
The panel led by Chet Nath Ghimire, former deputy attorney general, had also advised the government to provide additional 10 percent of the total compensation to those who would be displaced while acquiring the land.
The government has allocated Rs 710 million for the fast track project, including Rs 340 million for land acquisition in the current fiscal year.
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