Confusion in final report preparation of Kathmandu-Raxaul railway

If something needs to be added to the report, the ministry should send it to Konkan for finalization. There has been no discussion of the report yet. The survey report is kept in the ministry.

As the minister, secretary and the relevant departmental heads are changing, it has affected the work of the report, according to ministry sources. "If there had been a report on other projects, it would have been finalized by this time," said an employee of the ministry. The ministry was supposed to form a small committee and report on it. The committee is represented by the director general of the railway department, an engineer from the ministry and two engineers from the department under the coordination of the joint secretary in charge of the construction division of the ministry of materials. The

committee has not yet completed the study. "We will send in writing what to add," said an employee of the ministry, "After adding that, India will send the final report." Now it is being delayed because of us. The employee says that when it is finalized, they can proceed to construction. The railway department said that this study will work if the construction is carried out through EPC, Tanki, GTUG. It is not possible to go into construction with the investment of Nepal government. According to the

survey, it takes 4 trillion rupees to build the railway. This amount is exclusive of compensation. It is estimated that an additional 7 billion rupees will be required for compensation. According to the final survey, its distance will be 140.79 km. It will have 32 tunnels of 42 km. 124 major bridges and 12 stations will be constructed. The current distance will start from 4 km in Raxaul on the Indian side and reach Khokna in Lalitpur. The railway will touch Parsa, Rautahat, Bara, Makwanpur, Lalitpur and Kathmandu, in which 1500 hectares of land will be used for the construction of the railway.

The construction period will be 5 years from the date of contract. The study was carried out according to the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between the senior officials of the Government of Nepal and India on October 22, 2007. After submitting the final survey report to the ministry, Rohit Bisural, director general of the railway department, said that there was no further progress.

Umeshbindu Shrestha, Joint Secretary and Spokesperson of the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport, said that the discussion is being prepared on the field survey report submitted by Konkan. "We are preparing to give a final response on the final survey report," he said, "then we will send it to Konkan and after it is final, we will look at it again and finalize it."

As for Kathmandu-Kerung railway, after completing the preliminary study of the first phase, the work of the second phase of the study is ongoing. It took one year to complete the preliminary studies. Work has started to finalize the feasibility study. The Chinese technical team has reached Kathmandu, Nuwakot and Rasuwa and is working on the second phase of the study. In the second phase, the work of geological study has started.

The Chinese technical team is working on the study by establishing an office in Nuwakot. Bisural, director general of the railway department, said, "Pre-feasibility study was done earlier. Now there is a problem of landslides under the feasibility study. Work is being done to see where the land is weak. During the pre-feasibility study, drones are being used to identify such places and further study work is currently being done, he said. The condition of the ground will be checked by boring at different places. He says that studies will be done in this way from Kathmandu to Kerung. In the third phase, Chinese technicians will prepare and submit a report. At the same time, Bisural said that the Nepal government should make an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report.

The Chinese team came to Nepal in the third week of December 079 to study the feasibility of the railway. Although its study should be completed within 42 months, now only 28 months are left. Director General Bisural says that the work is being done within the stipulated time. As it is a feasibility study, it will know the construction cost, time and total distance of the railway. From the feasibility study, how many tunnels, bridges and stations will be required on the railway, that will also be known. In this separate detailed survey will not be done and the work will be progressed by preparing a detailed project report (DPR) during construction. China has started its study at its own expense.

It is estimated that the construction of the railway will cost 2 billion 71 billion 368 million rupees. According to the preliminary study, the distance of the route from Rasuwagadhi to Kathmandu will be 72 km. A memorandum of understanding was signed during the visit of Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi to Nepal on the feasibility study in March 2007.