The cabinet meeting held Thursday for the first time since the imposition of an unofficial blockade by India deferred making any decision on a controversial proposal to award the 76-km Kathmandu-Tarai Fast Track Project to a consortium of Indian developers.
Initially, the total cost of the project was estimated to be around 100 billion rupees. However, the cost of the 76 kilometer long fast track has gone up now up to Rs.150 billion or one thirds of Nepal’s annual budget. The proposal tabled by Minister for Physical Infrastructure and Transport Management Bimalendra Nidhi was however discussed for about an hour at Thursday's cabinet, said a minister requesting anonymity. The cabinet decided to defer making any decision on the proposal saying further study into the proposal is necessary. Ministers from the CPN-UML including Home Minister Bamdev Gautam had opposed the proposal saying he and his party want to make sure whether the recommendations made by a technical committee led by vice-chairman of National Planning Commission Govind Raj Pokhrel have been incorporated in the proposal or not. myrepublica
