16 firms vie for railway survey

REPUBLICA

KATHMANDU, May 12: Sixteen global firms have registered their expression of interest (EoI) to prepare Detailed Project Report (DPR) of the Bardibas-Birgunj section of the proposed Mechi-Mahakali Electric Railway.

Ram Kumar Lamsal, chief of Railway Construction Project, said companies based in India, Hong Kong, Germany, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, Spain and France have shown interest to prepare DPR for 136 km stretch of Bardibas-Simara and Simara-Birgunj sections.

“We will short-list three to six companies within 10 days. We will seek Request for Proposal (RFP) from the short-listed companies and select one of them on the basis of their financial position and work experience,” Lamsal told Republica.

He said DPR should be completed within nine months after the eligible company gets selected.

A preliminary estimate shows that the 13,00 km railway line that also includes Kathmandu-Pokhara Electrical Railway will cost around Rs 700- 800 billion.

RITES Ltd (India) -- an Indian consultant -- had submitted feasibility report of the project to the government in August, 2010. According to the report, the railway line will have 136 stations and four terminals. It will also have nine junctions and 122 intermediate junctions. The line will have 401 major bridges and 1,459 intermediate bridges.

The project has been divided into eight sections -- Mahendranagar-Attaria-Kohalpur-Mahadevpuri, Mahadevpuri-Bhaluwang-Mahuwa, Mahuwa-Butwal-Tamsaria, Tamsaria-Simara-Chandranigahapur, Chandranigahapur-Lahan, Lahan-Mechi, Tamsariya-Bharatpur-Abukhairani, and Kathmandu-Pokhara. Similarly, links will be established between Kohalpur-Nepalgunj, Butwal-Bhairahawa-Lumbini, Simara-Birgunj and Itahari-Biratnagar.

RITES Ltd has proposed construction of six cross-border links -- New Jalpaiguri-Kakarvitta, Jogbani-Biratnagar, Jainagar-Janakpur, Jainagar-Bardibas, Raxaul-Birgunj, Sunauli-Bhairahawa and Rupaidiya-Nepalgunj.

Meanwhile, Railway Construction Project has sent a formal request to the Ministry of Planning and Works (MoPPW) to initiate dialogue with the Chinese government to conduct feasibility study for railway line linking Kathmandu with Tibet.

“The MoPPW has assured us to take the initiative with consent from National Planning Commission -- the apex policy-making body of the government,” said Lamsal.

Business people involved in Nepal-China trade have long been requesting the government to initiate efforts to establish railway connectivity with Tibet to support bi-lateral trade.