Kathmandu, February 3

Nepal Purbadhar Bikash Company Ltd (NPBCL) — developer of the Kathmandu-Kulekhani-Hetauda Tunnel (KKHT) Highway Project — has made a commitment to implement the project and urged local shareholders of the project site to keep patience.

NPBCL has said that two members from among the 10 members of the board of directors, namely Lal Krishna KC and Subash Chandra Thakuri, are involved in enticing locals of the project site by spreading the wrong message regarding the project.

“We are committed to completing the project and our works are directed towards that,” said a statement issued by NPBCL today. According to the statement, both of the members have not invested a single paisa in the company.

“Key investors of the company are positive towards expanding investment for the completion of the project.”

Along with the delay in project implementation, a struggle committee formed by the local shareholders of Makawanpur district has staged a sit-in at the company’s office since the last two weeks demanding Chairman Kush Kumar Joshi’s resignation.

Among the 1,783 shareholders of the company, 1,200 are locals from Makawanpur. The company has collected Rs 10,000 to Rs 100,000 from locals as share of the company. NPBCL also has a provision whereby local shareholders who had initially invested Rs 10,000 could increase it to Rs 100,000 and those who invested Rs 100,000 could increase it to Rs one million. The company has said that the amount contributed by locals stands at around Rs four million.

As the company failed to generate the required fund and kickstart construction at the desired time, disputes among board members came to the surface. The board of

directors of NPBCL is divided into two factions — blaming each other for the past few days.

Organising a press meet on Tuesday, Rajuman Maharjan, chair of the struggle committee, blamed Chairman Joshi for increasing the liability of the company. The struggle committee has said that the firm’s liability has exceeded Rs 280 million, while its paid-up capital is Rs 303.1 million.

The struggle committee has said that they started their protest programme against the wrong-doings of Chairman Joshi and to demand his resignation. But NPBCL’s statement says that Joshi and his family members have been threatened by the struggle committee members.

NPBCL had obtained construction licence for the project on May 16, 2013. In its report submitted to Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport in March of 2015, the firm had said that it was trying to woo investors from Canadian firms Crown Corporations and Shej Global for investment worth 400 million Canadian dollars. However, nothing has materialised till date.

The proposed 58-km expressway consists of three tunnels of total length of 4.5 kilometres. About 90 per cent of the project area falls in Makwanpur district. The expressway would stretch from Balkhu of Kathmandu to Hetauda. The NPBCL has collected Rs 100 million from TBi Group, Rs 24.8 million from migrant workers in South Korea and rest from its promoters and locals of Makwanpur.

The project is expected to cost Rs 34.87 billion based on estimations made in 2012.