Kerung-Kathmandu rail: China offers feasibility deal Nepal stalls. China has officially requested that Nepal sign a letter of intent to conduct a feasibility study for the Nepal-China cross-border railway.
In the third week of November, the Chinese Embassy in Kathmandu wrote a letter to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which was also addressed to the Ministry of Finance, requesting official clearance for the signing of the agreement.
However, officials stated that because Nepal needs to clarify numerous topics with the Chinese side and a new administration is expected to be formed in Kathmandu soon, the prospects of such an agreement being signed immediately are minimal.
Despite the bureaucracy’s significant objections that Nepal must thoroughly analyze the proposal’s language, Finance Minister Janardan Sharma has been urging a senior finance ministry official to sign it before the formation of the next government.
According to a letter written by the Chinese Embassy to the government, the Chinese government stated that it would want to sign the letter of exchange on the feasibility study of the China-Nepal cross-border railway in Nepal, in accordance with the consensus reached by the two foreign ministers.
The Chinese side expected Nepal to sign the letter of exchange by November 25, 2022, but due to several points that Nepal needed to clarify with the Chinese side, the deal that will pave the way for the feasibility study is unlikely to be signed, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter. Nepali authorities and officials have asked China for money to do a feasibility assessment on the much-touted project.
The whole cost of the feasibility study for the 72-kilometer railway, according to the letter, would be roughly Rs3.4 billion (180.47 million RMB).
According to officials, Beijing has agreed to offer grant assistance to carry out the project’s feasibility study, but financial modalities for the cross-border railway’s construction have yet to be agreed upon. Kerung-Kathmandu rail: China offers feasibility deal Nepal stalls.
According to the pre-feasibility study, the project’s estimated cost surpasses $3 billion, and it would be built on a loan, according to officials from the two ministries, who added that taking such a large loan before doing a cost-benefit analysis was extremely dangerous.
