Nepal identifies three potential projects to be implemented under Belt and Road Initiative

KATHMANDU - Nepalese Officials have identified three potential infrastructure projects to be implemented under the framework of China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative.

The projects discussed by officials on Sunday include a cross-border railway project connecting China's bordering town Kerung with Nepal's capital Kathmandu, electricity transmission line connecting Kerung with Nepal's Galchhi in Dhading district, a neighboring district of Kathmandu and the Sunsari-Marin Diversion Irrigation Project in eastern Nepal, according to a press statement of Nepal's Finance Ministry.

During a meeting of the Project Development and Facilitation Committee to implement the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between Nepal and China related to the Belt and Road Initiative, officials from ministries including finance, physical infrastructure and transport, energy, irrigation, urban development, agriculture and tourism discussed these projects.

"Although we have identified these as potential projects to be implemented under the Belt and Road Initiative, we have not finalized them yet," Yugraj Pandey, under secretary at Nepal's Ministry of Finance, told Xinhua on Sunday.

At the meeting, Finance Secretary Shankar Prasad Adhikari urged officials from other ministries to submit the potential projects which are ready for implementation within the next five days.

"A consensus reached among the officials is that the Finance Ministry will propose the projects to the Chinese government based on national priority and necessity of the country," the ministry said in the statement.

Also at the meeting, Economic Advisor to Nepali Prime Minister Gyan Chandra Acharya urged the ministries to propose projects that could promote connectivity with productivity so as to reap as much as benefit from the the initiative.

A Cabinet meeting of the Nepali government on Aug 15 also asked the Energy Ministry to seek the Chinese support to build reservoir projects and transmission lines under the initiative.