BANEPA: Construction of physical infrastructures for transforming the Information Technology Park, popularly known as IT Park, into the security printing press center is underway, said the printing press.

The project based in Kavrepalanchok aims to make it a model in South Asia.

The government had released Rs 1.09 billion in the fiscal year 2076/77 BS for the project spanning 257 ropanis of land based at Panauti Municipality-5. The total cost for the project is estimated to be approximately Rs 33 billion.

However, construction of a security printing press has been halted due to some administrative work, said the center’s executive director Bikal Poudel. “To make the project multiyear, budgeting process is underway at the Ministry of Finance. The construction begins once the process completes,” he said.

The government had last year decided to establish a security printing press center in which to print passports, banknotes, driving license, smart cards, postal tickets, fee stickers and SIM cards.

For the construction of physical infrastructures for the project, works like levelling the land, wall constructions and trails inside the center have been completed, said Poudel.

Likewise, works like setting up two tanks each with capacity of storing 100,000 liters and installing four generators and an underground diesel tank with capacity of storing 300,000 liters of fuel have been over.

Once the printing press comes into operation, Nepal saves Rs 10 billion annually being outsourced for printing required documents, he said.