With the government planning to revive Hetauda Textile Factory, an inspection team has reported that 50 percent of the factory equipment is in working condition and 30 percent can be repaired.

The team, which visited to the factory on November 22, included representatives from Nepal Bureau of Standards and Metrology and Nepal Army.

The government is considering letting security forces operate the factory, which was shut down one and half decades ago after it suffered heavy losses due to its failure to compete with cheaper imports and frequent political intervention.

After resuming the factory’s operations, the government plans to manufacture official uniforms of security forces in the initial phase. 

“The government has planned to make the security forces, including Nepal Army, Armed Police Force and Nepal Police, invest in the factory so that they can manufacture their uniform themselves,” said a high-level official of the Ministry of Industry.

The government is also considering replacing old equipment, some more than 50 years old, with new advanced ones, the official said.

The factory, which consumes 2.2MW of electricity, can perform spinning, dyeing, looming, weaving and printing under the single roof. It has 488 weaving plants with automatic shuttles and a total of 14,886 spindles. “Most of the equipment can be repaired and reused,” said Nepal Bhushan Vaidya, manager of Hetauda Industrial Area Management Limited.

In its heyday, the factory manufactured 11 million metres of textiles from 2,240 tonnes of cotton annually and employed 1,200 individuals. 

Spread across 198 ropanies of land, the factory was established with Chinese investment of Rs200 million on 1975. “If the factory is restarted, it will not only provide employment opportunities, but also enhance business activities in adjoining areas,” said Nawaraj Aryal, president of Makwanpur Industries Association.