MoALD to hand over construction of mega market at Chobhar to KFVMDB

Kathmandu, November 13

Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development (MoALD) is preparing to hand over the remaining work of under construction mega market of fruits, flowers and vegetables at Chobhar to the Kalimati Fruits and Vegetable Market Development Board (KFVMDB).

MoALD has initiated the procedures for transferring the responsibility of Chobhar mega market that is being constructed under a joint venture of Mahadev Khimti Nirman Sewa, Samsu Zaman, and ANK Construction Company.

According to MoALD, it has already submitted a request letter to the Ministry of Finance to hand over the construction of Chobhar mega market to KFVMDB.

Earlier, the ministry had announced that only operational responsibility of the mega market would be handed over to the board. However, as the contractors are delaying construction, it has decided to hand over the related works to the board as well.

According to the ministry, soon after getting a go-ahead from the finance ministry, the related documents and budget for Chobhar market will be handed over to the board.

As the completion deadline for the mega market had already been extended twice already, the ministry has taken a decision to hand over the project to the board.

The construction of the mega fruits and vegetable market at Chobhar was started in 2014, with an aim to complete it by 2017. However, the contractor failed to complete the project on time citing lack of construction materials and other reasons. After that, the ministry extended completion deadline to May, 2018. However, that deadline could not be met as well.

The contractor has already missed another extended deadline of 2018-end.

The market is being constructed under the Project for Agriculture Commercialisation and Trade (PACT), with financial support of Rs 330 million by the World Bank. The mega market will have the facilities of multiple multi-storied buildings with separate sections for fruits, flowers and vegetables along with a separate administrative building. The market will also have a conference hall. Similarly, it will also have space for retail stalls.

As per the ministry, around 80 per cent construction work has been completed so far.