The work on setting up National Zoological Park is moving at snail’s pace in spite of the government plan to operate it within five years.
Talking to Hakahaki, Information Officer at Department of National Park and Wildlife Conservation, Narayan Rupakheti said the work of the park is extremely slow. The park is being founded with all necessary facilities for wildlife.
The building work of the park has not gained momentum due to temporary deputation and lack of necessary manpower; and the work has almost come to a halt, Rupakheti said. The government had introduced the concept of park in the fiscal year 2007-08 but the construction work couldn’t make progress owing to various reasons.
A Cabinet meeting on February 12, 2015 decided to establish the park including seven community forests in Wards 6, 7, and 8 of Surya Binayak Municipality of Bhaktpaur. The community forests proposed for the sanctuary, encompassing an area of 245.165 hectares, includes Setidevi, Surya Binakyak, Sanjeevani, Leekhanarayan, Manthali, Balkumari, and Gauridevi.
In order to regulate the Cabinet decision, ‘National Zoological Park Operation Directive was issued on August 5, 2015. Despite the directive, the work of building the park has not been satisfactory.
Until now, of the 16 kilometre perimeter of the park, 12 kilometres has been enclosed with woven fence. “The work was initiated from fiscal year 2015/16. Within this time, the areas of seven community forests were separated, and 1 km fence has been placed with concrete (RCC) poles,” said Rupakheti.
The wire fencing work in the remaining 4km and building construction work is in progress. The park unveiled its masterplan in last December. The work got delayed due to delay in the approval of the park construction master plan, says Rupakheti.
Though initially targeted to complete the master plan by fiscal year 2021/22, concerned stakeholders say the park will come into operation from 2023. “The master plan of the park has already been prepared, the plan has proposed an estimated budget of Rs 5 billion. But the detail project report has not been prepared,” said Rupakheti. “The work will be completed early if the government releases the budget soon, otherwise the work of zoological park will meet a similar fate to that of Melamchi Drinking Water project.”
Rupakheti said an animal-friendly rescue centre has been opened in 14.29-hectare area in partnership with National Trust for Nature Conservation. There is a plan to keep 80 percent of 208 different mammals found in Nepal inside the park. Most of the mammals kept at Jawalakhel-based National Zoo would be shifted to the park. According to government officials, tiger, beer, lion, elephant, monkey, among other animals, would be translocated to the well-equipped park.
