Kafkaesque bureaucracy ruins industrial estate

Only 25 of the 69 plots at Nepal's first special economic zone in Bhairahawa have been utilised as there are no takers for the rest.

Prakash Darshan of Gongabu, Kathmandu returned from Australia with an MBA degree under his arm and a plan to open an export-oriented factory in his head. He had chosen Nepal’s first special economic zone (SEZ) in Bhairahawa as the site for his project. But after getting the runaround from the SEZ bureaucracy, he quit in frustration.