Nepal Army to prepare new DPR of Expressway

The Nepal Army (NA) is planning to prepare the detailed project report (DPR) of the Kathmandu-Terai Madhes expressway on its own.At a press meet organized by the NA at its headquarters to share information about the progress so far on the project implementation on Tuesday, project deputy chief brigadier general Surya Prasad Khanal said that the NA, though earlier was planning to buy the DPR from Indian company IL&FS, now is preparing the DPR on its own.
Earlier the Indian company IL&FS had prepared the DPR. But NA was in a dilemma whether to purchase the already prepared DPR after it was given the responsibility for implementing the project by the cabinet. The NA announcement of not purchasing the DPR from the Indian side followed the various rounds of discussions and debates on the issue that failed to lead to the purchase deal.
The India side had demanded over 560 million for the DPR but the government had authorized the NA to either buy the whole document or parts of it, whichever is needed. But the deal failed due to price, and the NA finally decided to prepare the report on its own.
Though the NA has not sufficient human resources required for working with the DPR preparation, it is to seek help from the consultant organizations and experts. The estimated cost for the preparation of a new report is Rs 200 million.
Started with the target to complete it by May 24, 2017, the preliminary project cost is estimated to be Rs 1.20 billion. But over the time, the price has seen a rise to almost Rs 1.75 billion. The NA is working on the construction process by setting up security base camps at five places, while additional five security base camps will also be established, the NA informed journalists in the press meet.
The total 331 army men have been assigned to the process in two different phases. Clearance of forests in Bara for the construction and the process for compensating for using lands are underway. Bidding has been announced to purchase construction types of equipment.
The construction of walls on the side of the road has started, according to the NA.