Govt re-plans cable car link in Pokhara
- Preparing to invite EoIs to carry out project under PPP model
The government has come up with a fresh plan to develop and operate cable car service in Pokhara under the public private partnership (PPP) model. The Ministry of Physical Planning and Works (MoPPW) is preparing to invite an expression of interest (EoI) soon for the purpose.
Following the decision of the Infrastructure Steering Committee of the National Planning Commission (NPC), the MoPPW has scrapped the proposal forwarded last year by Chitwan Co-E , the operator of Manakamana Cable Car, to carry out this project. The company had assured the government to complete works and start operation during the Nepal Tourism Year 2011.
“We will soon publish a notice regarding the cable car plan in Pokhara,” said Tulasi Prasad Sitaula, secretary at the Physical Planning Ministry and a member of the committee. He said that the firm winning the contract would build and operate cable car service from the Fewa Lake to the World Peace Stupa at Pumdi Bhumdi, Pokhara.
The NPC committee’s meeting on November 15 had directed the MoPPW to construct and operate the proposed cable car through a bidding procedure based on Private Financing in the Build and Operation of Infrastructures Act. The committee has the NPC vice-chairman as its president and comprises the Chief Secretary, the Finance Secretary, Secretary at the Prime Minister’s Office, Law Secretary and Secretary at the Ministry of Physical Planning and Works.
According to MoPPW sources, Lila Mani Poudel, secretary at the PMO, and Law Secretary Bhesh Raj Sharma had stated that Chitwan Co-E should not be assigned to construct the cable car link without letting other firms compete.
“The MoPPW had planed to assign work to Chitwan Co-E directly based on private financing considering its experience of building Manakamana Cable Car,” the source added.
About 15 months ago, after approval form its technical team, the MoPPW had sought permission from the NPC to assign the job of developing and operating the cable car service under the PPP model to Chitwan Co-E. The cost for the 1.5 km cable car project had been estimated at Rs 1.5 billion and the company had also prepared a detailed project design.
Posted on: 2011-11-28 09:46
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