The taskforce, formed to study ways to develop the 76-km Kathmandu-Tarai Fast Track Project, is planning to start work as early as this week. 

The Cabinet on Thursday formed the taskforce under National Planning Commission Vice Chairman Min Bahadur Shrestha after scrapping all the agreements made with an Indian firm to build the expressway, clearing legal hurdles to allow the government to build the fast track with its own resources. 

The taskforce has been given three mandates-to study a detailed project report (DPR) prepared by an Indian consortium, financing modality and the tender modality. 

“We will start works from Sunday or Monday as soon once we are handed our terms of reference (ToR),” Shrestha said, adding the taskforce will prepare an action plan for the project with a timeline in its first meeting. 

The taskforce has been given a month to submit a report, also including whether to proceed with the DPR prepared by the Indian firm or prepare a new one. 

A consortium consisting of Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services (IL&FS) Transportation Networks, IL&FS Engineering and Construction and Suryavir Infrastructure Construction prepared the DPR and the same was supposed to develop project under the earlier efforts.