Development of the much-awaited 1,200MW Budhigandaki Hydroelectric Project has moved a step forward, with the District Administration Office (DAO), Dhading, on Saturday publishing a land acquisition notice, freezing transactions of about 28,000 ropanies of land to be acquired by the project.

The notice has asked the land owners to present themselves before the DAO to claim compensation within a month. 

Gorkha DAO will publish a similar notice to freeze transactions of 31,900 ropanies of land on Sunday, according to project officials. The storage-type project is based on the border of Gorkha and Dhading districts. 

Survey and Land Revenue Offices in Dhading and Gorkha, under the leadership of the project, have identified and marked places to be affected by the project as per the directive of the Ministry of Land Reform and Management. 

More than 8,000 households will be affected by the project, according to a report of the project development committee. The report states the project’s reservoir will completely submerge 3,560 households and they need to be resettled to an alternative location with proper compensation.

“Similarly, 4,557 households will be partially affected by the project and they need be compensated properly,” said Laxmi Prasad Devkota, chairman of the project development committee. 

According to Devkota, a four-member committee will be formed under the leadership of the chief district officer, which will determine the rate of the land to be acquired.

“The Land Acquisition Act has given full authority to such a committee to determine the rate of the land to be acquired. However, as per the international practice, the economic status of the people to be displaced by the project should not degrade after relocation,” he added. “So the valuation process might take up to two months’ time.”

The project plans to start the compensation distribution process by mid-June. The project development committee is preparing to demand resources required for the compensation distribution from the upcoming fiscal year.

“The project has estimated the total cost of comp bn ensation at around Rs61 billion,” said Devkota. “But we currently have only Rs2.9 billion.”

The project aims to distribute 50 percent of the compensation within this fiscal year if adequate budget is allocated.

A 263-metre-high dam will be built for the project which will create an artificial lake that could also become a tourist attraction.