The Nepal Embassy on 12A Kensington Palace Gardens in London is a national embarrassment. The walls of the magnificent building are cracked and so are the pillars that keep it standing. The wall paint and wallpaper are flaking off. Drainage pipes installed a century ago have holes in them because of the rust and everything spills onto the walls. The second floor is shoddier. Rain seeps in through the roof and plaster on the ceiling inside has peeled off, leaving large brown patches in place of white.
The government in Nepal is least bothered about the embassy’s upkeep and is in fact looking to sell the property in hopes of pocketing any windfall. Renovations will set back the state by Rs 630 million, but if it allocates Rs 50 million every year, repair work can be completed within 10 years. If sold now, however, Nepal stands to gain Rs 75 billion.
In the past decade, many high-level advisory committees have been formed and millions doled out to sponsor junkets for Nepali officials, but nothing concrete has happened yet. In April, a team of experts visited the UK and Germany for research and came up with a proposal. The trip cost Rs 3.6 million, but not everyone signed on the document. It was submitted to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in May, but as with the older agreements, it still hasn’t been made public. The fate of the embassy remains in limbo.
Read also:
For sale
12 A