The Nepal Trust has disclosed details on its movable and immovable assets by issuing a white paper here Tuesday. The Trust was established on November 22, 2007 to manage the properties registered in the name of late King Birendra, late Queen Aishwarya and their family members.
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defence Ishwor Pokharel, also the Trust’s Chair, unveiled the details of the assets owned by it as of now. Stating that the misleading information was doing the rounds regarding the Trust’s properties, DPM Pokharel said that the properties’ details were made public to bring out the truth.
According to the white paper, the Trust currently has a total of around 21,562 ropani of land in 12 different districts, with Dhading having the biggest share of land at 15,101 ropani. The Trust has 4,442 ropani of land in Kathmandu. The Trust has USD 148,581 and Pound Sterling 50,124 deposited in various banks.
Furthermore, the white paper stated that the Trust has 533,244 units of Nabil Bank’s shares, 30,729 units of Hotel de l’Annapurna and 6,750 units of Nepal Industrial Development Corporation.
Similarly, the Trust owned immovable assets such as palaces, mansions and forest areas in Kathmandu, Lalitpur, Bhaktapur, Dhading, Sindhupalchowk, Nuwakot, Dhankuta, Makawanpur, Kavrepalanchowk, Surkhet, Kaski and Chitwan.
Among them, properties in Gokarna, Kamaladi, Teku and Lazimpat was leased out by then royal palace while the land in former royal palace and Tahachal were leased out by the government following the establishment of the Trust.
The office of the Department of Foreign Employment in Tahachal, Public Procurement and Monitoring Office in Kathmandu, Poverty Alleviation Fund’s office and Civil Residential School in Dhankuta were leased out for a short term.
DPM Pokharel reaffirmed that properties owned by the Trust were used for the national good. According to him, the Trust would provide monitory support in education, health and tourism sector through the income generated by the Trust’s assets.
The DPM said that some of the Trust land would be leased out for running homestay programmes for which the Trust will formulate the procedure.
Efforts on to return 174 ropani
Likewise, the Trust is making an effort to return to its ownership some 174 land that also has some tenants’ claims to be addressed. This has also been shared with the government, public and guthi trust land protection probe commission, DPM Pokharel said.
The land was transferred to the ownership of the tenants, but the cabinet decision to do so in the past is now being reviewed. This includes land in Matatirtha, Thankot and Mahadevsthan, Satungal and Balaju of Kathamndu.
The Committee chair Pokharel said that the Trust continues to look for land and assets that should come under its ownership across the country.
