Land prices in Basantapur soar as urban dev starts

Terhathum:Land prices in Basantapur have skyrocketed after the government began implementing its plan to develop this trade hub in eastern Nepal into a modern town.

It has formulated a 20-year settlement programme with a target to accommodate 100,000 inhabitants in the planned city.

Basantapur in Terhathum district is one of the locations selected by the government to be developed as modern towns under a plan to develop 10 such cities along the Mid-Hill Highway. The cross-country road runs east-west passing through 24 hilly districts.

According to traders, land prices in Basantapur have soared seven-fold in a few years. “A piece of land which cost Rs 1 million five years ago now costs Rs 7 to Rs 8 million,” said Milan Thapa, chairman of the Terhathum Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Local residents who have sold their houses have been buying them back at higher rates.

Meanwhile, buyers from the nearby areas of Dharan, Biratnagar, Itahari and Jhapa and from as far away as Kathmandu have been snapping up real estate in Basantapur. Businessmen have also been purchasing land to establish liquor factories which has pushed up land prices further.

As per the government’s plan, the Mid-Hill Highway will link Basantapur with Dharan and Taplejung. North-south roads intersecting the Mid-Hill Highway will connect India and China. Local residents and a former member of the District Development Committee, Terhathum said that the future of this place was going to be bright if the government implements the plan by putting it in its priority list.

Under the new city development programme, the government has completed a survey for the basic infrastructure. Home prices rose as the government marked the areas of Alkodada in the east, Ghumaune in the west, Ratopati in the north and Chitre in the south for housing development.     

Rabi Shah, an official of the Department of Urban Development and Building Construction, said that work was progressing as per plan. The government has planned to develop two places each in the five development regions of the country as modern towns. According to Shah, the 10 selected places are Phidim of Panchthar, Basantapur of Terhathum, Khurkot of Sindhuli, Baireni Galchhi of Dhading, Dumre Bhansar of Tanahu, Burtibang of Baglung, Chaurjahari of Rukum, Ramkarnali of Rukum, Sanfebagar of Achham and Patan of Baitadi. 

The programme has called for bids to construct roads, and has allocated a budget of Rs 8.5 million for basic physical infrastructure development. To link residential areas with the road, the programme has completed work on road alignment and road survey.

Shambhu KC, director general of the Department of Urban Development and Building Construction, said that the city development process was selected on the basis of nine indicators such as availability of land, sources of drinking water, probability of economic development, status of the residents, population and migration, among others. The

government has also aimed to stop the migration from the hills to the Tarai through this new city development programme.

source: the kathmandu post,25 feb 2014