Construction of Immigration Office building dogged by prolonged delays

BHAIRAWAHA, AUGUST 12: Construction of the Immigration Office building at Belhiya in Ward No. 1 of the Siddharthnagar Municipality in Rupandehi District, has been ongoing for the last 3.5 years but remains incomplete. The contract for the construction was signed on January 15, 2021, by Bandana Bhagwati Shankar JV in Kathmandu. 

The contractor first requested an extension on January 6, 2023, and the extended deadline was August 15, 2024. However, the work remains incomplete, and the contractor has again requested an extension. Contractor Pema Ghimire Moktan was responsible for constructing the five-story building at a cost of Rs 102.5 million, including VAT.

Currently, the tasks pertaining to tiles, aluminium windows, wooden windows, glass, roof, and granite are still incomplete on the ground floor. The contractor has reported issues due to discrepancies between the design and the actual measurements. Payments for plastering and brickwork have not been received, and problems have arisen because some required elements were not included in the design. The building is supposed to have two lifts and two staircases.

Arjun Giri, former chairman of the Belhiya Village Society, lamented that the lack of a completed immigration office has caused difficulties for tourists. He noted that there has been no information about the reasons for the inordinate delays in completing the building.

Sotto Nepal Lumbini Province President, Shrichan Gupta, stated that the distance of the immigration office from the Belhiya border causes tourists to face difficulties, as they have to travel as long as 500 meters to complete their paperwork.

Dr. Shant Kumar Sharma, President of the Nepal-India Friendship Society, bemoaned that despite repeated extensions, the building has not been completed. He pointed out that 70% of tourists entering Nepal come through the Belhiya border, and the current state of the facility raises questions about Nepal’s tourism image.

Dhruv Kumar Yadav, an engineer from Bandana Bhagwati Gauri Shankar JV, attributed the construction delays to the COVID-19 pandemic,  a mismatch in the design and consultant estimates and a lack of coordination on  the part of the Federal Project Implementation Unit, Rupandehi (It has not facilitated payments for the additional estimates)

When Dharmendra Pant, the head of the office, was asked for his views on the setbacks related to the construction of the building, flatly refused to do so. 

The Belhiya border is one of the largest land entry points in the country and the second most significant entry point for tourists into Nepal. Records show that tourists from 122 countries visit Nepal through this border. In the fiscal year 2023/24, 90,921 tourists entered Nepal through the Belhiya border, including 33,986 men, 56,104 women, and 33 others. 90,123 tourists exited through Belhiya. The majority of tourists come from Sri Lanka, followed by Thailand, Myanmar, Vietnam, and South Korea. Women outnumber men among tourists.

Immigration Officer Narayan Prasad Pandey stated that Belhiya is the second busiest entry point for tourists in Nepal after Tribhuvan International Airport. He noted that the highest number of tourists come from Sri Lanka, Thailand, Myanmar, Vietnam, and South Korea.

Pandey mentioned that he is coordinating with the contractor, the Federal Project Implementation Unit and the department to expedite the construction of the office building. 

In 2018, 166,235 tourists entered through Belhiya, 161,691 in 2019, 43,367 in 2020, 20,220 in 2022, and 81,551 in 2023. No tourists came through Belhiya in 2021 due to the pandemic.