Kavre. The Dhulikhel Integrated Land Development Project in Bansghari and Chhapgaun of Dhulikhel Municipality-4 has been stalled for more than two decades. More than 72 families have been affected by the stalling of 272.5 ropanis of private, public and guthi land in the project area for the past 22 years.

As more than 270 units of land in the project area are frozen, the landowners have not been able to use their land easily for the purposes of building houses, plotting and taking loans against bank mortgages. The affected families have been drawing the attention of the concerned authorities time and again as the problem of land that has been frozen for a long time has not been resolved.

The Integrated Land Development Project was started in Dhulikhel from November 2061 BS through the Urban and Environmental Improvement Project under the then Ministry of Housing and Physical Planning. The project was started with the objective of constructing infrastructure including roads, drinking water, drainage, electricity by consolidating land for systematic urbanization.

The land in the project area was frozen after the government started the process of implementing the project by publishing a notice in the gazette on October 13, 2006. The implementation of the project was delayed due to agreement and disagreement among the local landowners. According to the affected locals, 49 out of 72 families had expressed disagreement with the project. There was a difference of opinion among the political parties at the local level on this issue.

A writ petition was also filed in the court on behalf of the landowners after the dispute escalated over the project and the release of the land. Locals say that after this, the project implementation process was further extended.

Some of the families affected by the 2015 earthquake have said that they are facing problems in constructing new houses even though they have land in their own names. Bikram Rana, Maina Thapa Magar and Keshav Khulal of Dhulikhel-4, Bansghari and Sushmi Karki of Chhapgaun have said that they are finding it difficult to fulfill their personal and family needs due to the blockage of land for a long time.

Keshav Khulal, vice-chairman of the 14-member users’ committee formed to give a way out to the project, said that the locals are in trouble due to the blockage of land for a long time. He said that there should be a clear decision on whether to complete the project and hand over the developed land or release the land after completing the legal process.

“Even though the land is in its own name, it has not been able to use it when needed. Now there should be a clear solution on whether to complete the project or release the land,” he said.

Administrative, legal and financial complications have also been associated with the delay in the project for a long time. The Department of Urban Development and Building Construction wrote a letter to the Dhulikhel Municipality on June 3, 2082 BS providing Rs. 50 lakh Sava and Rs. 18,96,810 with interest.

According to the records related to the project, the land has been frozen in the name of Dhulikhel Integrated Land Development Project. Although the process of unification of the land was initiated at the initiative of the municipality, the unification of the plots has not been completed. According to the records related to the municipality, there are legal complications due to some of the plots that have been withheld by banks and courts.

In an effort to move the project forward, the executive meeting of Dhulikhel Municipality held on September 12, 2080 had decided to write to the Land Revenue Office, Kavre, to release the land that had been blocked by banks, financial institutions and courts and send it to the Land Revenue Office, Kavre. However, it was difficult to finalize the entire process from the local level alone as the project was related to the Ministry of Urban Development and its subordinate bodies of the federal government.

The Town Development Committee was reconstituted on May 22, 2083 BS under the chairmanship of Nirajan Jangam, the acting mayor of Dhulikhel Municipality, to take forward the project which had been stalled for a long time. After this, the process of concluding the project was initiated in coordination with the local landowner, ward office, land revenue office and the concerned bodies of the federal government.

Acting Mayor Jangam said that it is the priority of the municipality to solve the problems of the affected people by implementing the project which has been stalled for a long time. He said that preparations are being made to start the construction of infrastructure on the project site by resolving the administrative and legal complexities of the past.

A meeting was held at the municipality on September 11, 2008 among acting mayor Jangam, chief administrative officer Mohan Prasad Marasini and office-bearers of the newly formed users’ committee to take the project to the implementation phase. The meeting had formed a 14-member consumer committee under the convenorship of Ratna Bahadur Karki and vice-chairperson of Keshav Khulal to facilitate the implementation of the project at the local level.

Endorsing the decisions of the initial meeting of the users’ committee, the municipality decided to manage the administrative human resources required for the construction of the project and establish a separate project office on the project site.

According to Mohan Prasad Marasini, Chief Administrative Officer of the municipality, preparations are being made to start the construction of physical infrastructure after finalizing the legal and administrative aspects of the project. After the construction of the infrastructure including road network, electricity expansion, drainage and drinking water, the plan is to hand over the developed land to the concerned landowners after completing the process related to survey and land revenue.

“Many administrative and legal aspects of the project have already moved forward. Now we have to focus on the construction of physical infrastructure,” he said.

According to the municipality, preparations are being made to implement the project by including the budget in the upcoming policies and programs. Preparations are being made to manage the work through a separate project office by managing the necessary technical and administrative manpower.