KIRAN CHAPAGAIN & PRABHAKAR GHIMIRE

KATHMANDU, Feb 19:
The Ministry of Physical Planning and Works (MPPW) has called for
expression of interest by international firms in carrying out a
feasibility study on a Mechi-Mahakali Electric Railway Line, also known
as east-west railway. The prime minister, in his second address to the
nation on January 25, had directed the ministry to start work on such a
study.



Hari Prasad Sharma, spokesperson at MPPW, said interested international
firms which have experience working on railway construction, can apply
by March 1. A notice to this effect was published on January 30. The
ministry plans to begin the study work on the 1,200 km railway, which
will connect the Mechi river in the east to the Mahakali in the west,
by June 1. The plan is to complete the study work within eight months.



At present, the country has only one operational railway line, the 29-km Janakur-Jainagar Railway that links Nepal to India.



Meanwhile, MPPW has requested the Ministry of Finance (MoF) to float
the government plan on feasibility study before bilateral and
multilateral donors to canvas their help. A letter to this effect was
sent to MoF on February 11.



“As construction of an electric railway is very ambitious and expensive
for a country like ours, we requested the Ministry of Finance to seek
interested donors for conducting a feasibility study,” Dhruba Regmi,
joint secretary at MPPW who is overseeing the project, told
myrepublica.com.



However, Krishna Gyawali, chief of Foreign Aid Co-ordination Division
at MoF, said MoF has not approached any donors regarding the MPPW
request on the proposed railway. He added that the World Bank, the
Asian Development Bank, Japan and Korea are possible donors for the
project.



Sharma added that the feasibility study will prepare preliminary
engineering designs for the railway, estimate the cost of tracks,
bridges, overhead electric lines and a signal system among other
things. Besides, it will also prepare modalities for project
implementation.



In the annual budget for the current fiscal year, the government has
allocated Rs 150 million for construction of an electric railway in the
Tarai from Mechi to the Mahakali along with upgrading and widening a
Jainagar-Janakpur-Bardibas rail line and carrying out a study for a
Kathmandu-Pokhara line.



A pre-feasibility study of the railway system carried out by Promotion
of Renewable Energy Efficiency and Greenhouse Gas Abetment (PREGA) in
2006 says that the proposed railway line could be constructed at an
estimated cost of US$ 2.07 billion.