Khokana’s land acquisition issue will be resolved: PM

by A Staff Reporter,Kathmandu, Aug. 6: Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli has said that the government is committed to solving the problems witnessed in the Kathmandu-Tarai/Madhes Fast Track Project.

Addressing a gathering after the breakthrough of the 1.728-metre Dhedre tunnel under the project on Monday, Prime Minister Oli directed the concerned authorities to expedite the work.

Prime Minister Oli announced the breakthrough of the Dhedre tunnel heading towards Nijgadh amidst a special function organised on the spot in Makwnapur. 

“The government is ready to remove the obstacles in the Khokana segment,” PM Oli said. He claimed that not only politics but other things were also mixed up in the land acquisition of Khokana area to begin the project work there.

“There is not just politics mixed in the land of Khokana, but other things as well, which we understand,” Prime Minister Oli said. Expressing happiness over today’s breakthrough in the Fast Track work, he thanked them for the success. “Previously, I had announced that Nepal itself should build the Fast Track Project and allocated budget for it.”

“What Nepal was supposed to be has not happened, and the pace at which development was supposed to take place has not been achieved, so now it needs to be expedited,” Oli said.

Prime Minister Oli also said that such works would refute the claims that nothing is happening.

“I had said previously that Nepal has entered the tunnel era. We need to advance the skilled manpower needed for the country in terms of quality and technology,” PM Oli said.

He emphasised the need to complete the ongoing work rather than starting new projects.

During the same breakthrough programme, Chief of the Army Staff General Prabhu Ram Sharma had said that politics blocked land acquisition in Khokana.

“The construction work of the Fast Track has been disrupted by politics in Khokana, Lalitpur,” he said. 

Additionally, CoAS Sharma claimed that the work would be completed by mid-April 2027.

“Politics in Khokana has disrupted the Fast Track work, and it must be rectified by politics itself,” said CoAS Sharma. 

“We have not been able to initiate the contract for six and a half kilometres stretch of the project. “Although we don’t engage in politics, we understand the issues,” he said. 

He said that the real work of the project began only in 2019 and would be completed by 2027.

This tunnel is being constructed by China’s Poly Changda Engineering Company.