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Construction of garment processing zone in final stage

The construction of Block A of the Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in Simara of Bara district is in the final stage of completion. Block A of SEZ in Simara will function as the Garment Processing Zone, where factories related to clothes and fabric will be set up. Construction of garment processing zone in final stage

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Shankar Acharya

Published at : April 1, 2018

Updated at : April 1, 2018 13:54

Parsa

Block A is one of the five blocks at the SEZ and is spread on an area of 343 bighas, which accounts for 41 percent of the total area of the special economic zone.

Of the total land area allocated for Block A, 165 bighas would be used to set up a garment processing zone, according to Ajay Kumar Chaudhary, sub-engineer of the SEZ Development Committee, Simara. The garment processing zone will have 63 plots and each will speard on an area of 1-1.5 bighas of land. Entrepreneurs, who wish to set up a factory in the garment processing zone, will have to purchase the plot.

Block A is currently witnessing construction of roads and buildings in two different packages. A budget of Rs940 million has been allocated for construction of roads and Rs340 million has been earmarked for construction of buildings.

So far, works related to construction of compound wall, inner roads, culverts and canals; soil levelling; and hume pipe connection have been completed. Also, dividers have been built on inner roads.

The SEZ will house export-oriented factories and will provide various facilities to units that set up bases here. The SEZ in Simara will have an exhibition hall, banks, restaurants, a hospital, parking spaces, public toilets, a post office, a gasoline station and canteens. The SEZ will also have tax, customs and labour relations offices, and provide basic services such as electricity and telecommunications.

Construction of the SEZ in Simara began in fiscal year 2007-08. However, the construction work could not take off properly due to various problems, including shortage of funds and delay in land acquisition.

The SEZ stretches over three wards—Ward No. 4, 14 and 15—of Jitpur-Simara Sub-metropolis. Block B of the SEZ spreads on 128 bighas, while Block C stretches over 49.5 bighas. Likewise, Block D is spread on 178.5 bighas and Block E stretches over 133 bighas.

Sub-engineer Chaudhary said that the government has allocated budget in the current fiscal year for partial construction of blocks B and C. Currently, a total of 500 metres of compound walls are being built in these two blocks, while procurement process has begun for construction of boundary walls in Block D and Block E.

“Since sufficient budget has been allocated for construction this year, there is hardly any difficulty in giving continuity to various works,” Chaudhary said.

Some locals who previously had houses inside the SEZ compound protested earlier this year demanding an alternative arrangement for their livelihood under the slogan ‘One Home, One Employment’. The protest ended after talks with officials of the Ministry of Industry.

The government is planning to build at least one SEZ in each province. So far, only one SEZ has been built in Bhairahawa of Province 5. The government plans to operate a SEZ in Biratnagar of Province 1, Panchkhal of Province 3, Gorkha of Province 4, Jumla of Province 6 and Dhangadhi of Province 7. The SEZ in Simara represents Province 2.