Kathmandu, September 12

The land acquisition process to construct the Outer Ring Road project is being delayed due to dilly-dallying by the Ministry of Urban Development (MoUD).

The Kathmandu Valley Development Authority (KVDA) had planned to begin the land acquisition process by July 17. However, it has been unable to initiate the process as the MoUD is yet to seek consent for the same from the Cabinet.

“The Cabinet’s approval is required before we can initiate the land acquisition process for the mega project. We had sent the proposal to the MoUD before July 15, but the ministry has not yet forwarded it to the Cabinet,” said an official of KVDA.

Earlier, the KVDA had approached the district administration office (DAO) of Kathmandu for the approval of land acquisition process. However, the administration office returned the file stating it was not authorised to grant such approval.

“After the chief district officer said the DAO did not have the power to grant such approval, we forwarded our proposal to the line ministry. However, the ministry is taking a very long time to place it on the agenda of the Cabinet meeting,” officials said.

According to officials, due to delay in land acquisition process, the KVDA is still undecided about forming local consumer committee for the 6.6-kilometre-long Chobhar-Satungal section.

“We plan to form 12 consumer committees for this section, but due to delay in receiving approval for land acquisition process, the KVDA has been unable to move ahead,” said Dhruba Sapkota, acting project manager of Outer Ring Road Development Project (ORRDP).

According to the detailed project report (DPR) of Outer Ring Road, which was approved by the government on April 26, 7,800 ropanis would be needed to construct the Chobhar-Satungal section. For this, KVDA will initiate the land acquisition process in the next fiscal year, which begins on July 15.

The government is planning to develop wider roads and integrated settlements on both sides of the Outer Ring Road. The consumer committees and ORRDP will jointly fix the boundaries of land and the number of houses that would need to be demolished to implement the project.

ORRDP will be responsible to open the track of 72-kilometre-long project in the initial phase. It will also have to construct the retention walls on both sides of the 50-metre-wide road in this phase. During the second phase of the project, the road will be black-topped and four flyovers will be built at major junctions.