December 29: The cost of acquiring land in between Birgunj Dry Port and the Integrated Check Post (ICP) is increasing due to procedural hassles. The government has been spending billions of rupees on land acquisition and compensation due to the bureaucratic red tape. In 2015, the compensation for the land required for the dry port was estimated to be Rs 720 million initially which has now increased to over Rs 4 billion. 

The government has started the second phase of land acquisition to expand the Birgunj Dry Port and the ICP. The District Administration Office, Parsa has started distributing compensation for 62 bighas of land located between the Integrated Check Post (ICP) and the dry port starting from Tuesday, December 28. The government plans to increase the infrastructure by acquiring land between these two structures.

Umesh Kumar Dhakal, Chief District Officer of Parsa, said the second phase of compensation distribution has been started after the government released an additional budget of Rs 1 billion in the current fiscal year 2021/22. In the last fiscal year, the government had distributed Rs 1.5 billion rupees. Lal Bahadur Khatri, chief customs officer of the dry port, informed that compensation for 17 bighas of land has been paid to 52 local landowners. The Ministry of Finance had proposed land acquisition in 2015/16.

The project plan was implemented five years later, yet it has not been able to pick up pace. It has been seventeen years since the dry port came into operation and four years since import and export started from the Integrated Check Post. The government plans to merge these infrastructures. 

Entrepreneurs say that the plan to expand the infrastructure by acquiring the land in between the ICP and the dry port has not gained much momentum.

In 2015, the compensation for land was estimated to be around Rs 720 million. Due to the procedural delays the government is spending billions on compensation alone.

Khatri said that the amount released in the second phase will not be enough for compensation. The government needs to allocate funds again in the next year for the compensation. He said that efforts are being made to expedite the dry port expansion and distribution of compensation as soon as possible. Customs officials estimate it will still require Rs 3 billion for the compensation alone.

The proposal for land acquisition was stranded in the cabinet. The acquisition was delayed due to the indecisiveness of the Council of Ministers which started only after five years. 

The cabinet decided to acquire the land only in November, last year. Only then did the port customs distributed compensation in the first phase.

According to the current estimate, it will cost more than Rs 5 billion rupees to acquire the land. The customs officials claim that this estimate covers the cost of land alone. When the valuation of houses and trees  are added, the cost is expected to reach above Rs 7 billion. 

The government has classified the land into thirteen categories.  Compensation ranging from Rs 2.4 million to Rs 6.5 million has been fixed. The compensation has been fixed for 919 plots west of the port, south of Padma Road and east of ICP Road. It includes private land, 64 houses, a primary school, health post, pond and land belonging to a guthi (trust).

The sale and purchase of land has been prevented after the compensation amount was fixed. Locals have been demanding immediate compensation for their land since the government has blocked its purchase and sale.