Dry port stuck in land acquisition

An environmental impact assessment has already been done for the dry port to be constructed by the Government of India. According to the master plan prepared by Nepal, an environmental impact assessment has been carried out to build a dry port on 43 hectares of Gauri Shankar Community Forest in Dodhara Chandni Municipality-1. According to this, about 1900 trees have to be cut.

In the DPR prepared by India, it is seen that only 25 hectares of land will be occupied. Now only 600 trees have to be cut. For this, an environmental management plan has to be created again. The Intermodal Transport Development Committee has started the work of creating an environmental management plan through a consultant this week. "There is a constant demand from India to clear the space, we are stuck in land acquisition," said Ashish Gajurel, Executive Director of the Intermodal Transport Development Committee, "Once the EIA is done, we have to make a management plan again." It will take about a month to make the management plan. He said that only after that the issue of land acquisition will proceed. Under the

management plan, the number of trees in the construction site, their condition, the impact on wildlife and the condition of the river channel will be studied. Only after the approval of the said plan, the process of acquiring the right of occupancy of the land will proceed from the tree cutting order. According to the DPR prepared by India, administrative buildings, godowns, warehouses, security, quarantine houses and load and unload sheds will be constructed. Also, a wall will be built on all sides. According to the construction plan prepared by Nepal, the subject of building 3 warehouse houses and 500 large freight vehicle parking houses was included. But the DPR prepared by India has only 2 warehouses and parking capacity of 3500 vehicles.

'We also asked for the amendment of the DPR by adding parking capacity and warehouse,' said Executive Director Gajurel, 'but India did not agree to the amendment saying that the warehouse and parking would be sufficient for now.' Work is in progress. The work has been started since last year. Gujurel said that the work of the dry port will also start as soon as the ownership of the land is obtained. On the Nepal side, the construction of a four-lane concrete bridge over the Mahakali river and a six-lane access road from Gaddachouki to Malaria Nala has reached its final stage.

During Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal's visit to India last year, there was an agreement that the banana dry port would be built by the Indian government. According to the agreement, the construction work was planned to be completed within three years. It is estimated that 6 billion budget will be spent for this. But even a year after the agreement, the work of the dry port is stuck in land acquisition. Initially, the government of Nepal was planning to build a dry port and an integrated check post along with a special economic zone. For that, the land of Mayapuri Community Forest had to be acquired along with Gaurishankar. There was a plan to acquire about 300 bighas of land from the local people. But now only 25 hectares of Gourishankar community forest land is required as only integrated check post will be constructed.