29 September 2026, Kathmandu
Indigenous Newa communities of Khokana and Bungamati in Lalitpur have called on United Nations Special Procedures to take renewed follow-up action to protect their rights amid continuing concerns over the Kathmandu–Terai/Madhesh Fast Track (Expressway) and other infrastructure projects affecting their ancestral lands, cultural heritage and livelihoods.
In follow-up information submitted today to the UN Special Rapporteur on the rights of Indigenous Peoples and other relevant UN Special Procedures, Janasarokar Samiti (Public Concerns Committees) of Khokana and of Bungamati representing the Fast Track and other project affected families have raised concerns over recent developments related to the Fast Track project. They have called on the UN experts to continue engaging with the Government of Nepal and other entities involved in the project. They have particularly expressed concern over the republication of a land acquisition notice for the Fast Track in Khokana, Bungamati and adjoining areas on 18 June 2026, which they say shows that the Government is again moving ahead with the disputed original alignment.
The Committees have welcomed the continued attention of the UN Special Procedures to their concerns. In June 2024, the Special Procedures had sent their latest Allegation Letter to the Government of Nepal, as well as domestic and international businesses involved in the Expressway, their home States and the Asian Development Bank, following an earlier communication issued in March 2021. According to the Committees, the concerns raised in those communications however remain unresolved, and the Government of Nepal has not, to their knowledge, provided a response to the latest communication.
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