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KATHMAMNDU, June 22 (Xinhua) --Hongshi-Shivam Cement Private Limited, a China-Nepal joint venture company, is struggling to acquire the land required to set up a cement factory in Nepal as the land law in the country bars to hold over 8 hectares of land in proposed location of factory.
The company official told Xinhua that they require around 40 hectares of land to set up factory which will have the capacity of producing 6,000 tonnes of cement in a day. The company has planned to set up a factory at Nepal's South Western district-Nawalparasi and its mine site is located at neighboring Palpa district.
As per Nepal's law, a cabinet decision is necessary to hold more than upper limit set by the law.
"The Land Reform Ministry has sent the proposal of clearing our company to hold more lands to the cabinet," said Satish More, a director of Joint Venture Company. "We are awaiting the clearance from the government at the earliest and we are hopeful that it will happen soon."
The company had initiated the process of getting clearance from the government nearly four months ago. Investment Board Nepal (IBN) which deals with big foreign investment has been facilitating the process.
According to a company official, a longer procedure taken in clearance for land holding could lead to delay in construction of the factory. "We cannot move ahead to construct the factory without clearance on landholding from the government," said the official.
The IBN had approved the Hongshi's FDI proposal in July 2015. China's Jiangxi-based company is one of the largest cement manufacturing companies in China.
Kedar Bahadur Adhikari, secretary at the Prime Minister's Office in Nepal told Xinhua that it would not take much time to get approval from the cabinet if the proposal has already reached the cabinet.
The company is also seeking clearance from the government for the terms of reference and scoping of the Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) to be conducted before setting up the factory.
The Hongshi-Shivam has planned to start construction of the factory from October and complete it within three years. It has now built a residential building at the factory site to carry out necessary homework for starting construction of factory.
The Hongshi's FDI of 360 million US dollar is the largest Chinese investment in Nepal's cement industry and the second largest after Nigeria's Dangote Cement, which has also entered Nepal with FDI pledge of 550 million US dollar.
