In his first bilateral visit abroad after becoming the Prime minister of Nepal, Sher Bahadur Deuba is coming to India later in the week. During his three days visit starting April 1-3, Prime Minister of Nepal is scheduled to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi on April 2 and there will be other official engagements in New Delhi before he leaves for Varanasi. He has been to India four times and the last visit as a PM was in 2017.

The focus of the visit is going to be on a wide range of bilateral issues, trade cooperation, power, connectivity, people to people links, health sector, development and economic partnership.

More about India-Nepal Development Partnership

According to sources, India’s development cooperation with Nepal is one of the fundamental pillars of the bilateral partnership.  Areas like road, rail, education, power, health and much more are all part of this. These not only help in further improving cross border connectivity between the two countries but also the infrastructure, which helps in making the ties stronger between the two neighbours.

Cooperation for developing modern infrastructure in Nepal began in 1951, and as a major development partner of Nepal, India first constructed the Gauchar Airport (known as the Tribhuvan Airport) located in Kathmandu. This was completed in 1954 and in the same year the Indian Aid Mission in Nepal was set up. This was meant to help Nepal in coordinating various projects and efforts of the government for developing projects in several areas including health, connectivity, education, power, and government departments and more.

Under the Development Partnership, the projects have been diverse in size and sectors spread throughout that country and they include projects that have been financed through grants and Lines of Credit provided by the Indian government.

Power and Energy

In 1976, Trishuli Hydropower Project with an installed capacity of 21 MW with a grant of Rs 140 million was constructed and has grown since then.

In recent years, in 2019, Motihari-Amlekhgunj Petroleum Pipeline was installed at a cost of Rs 324 crore. This according to sources is the first cross-border petroleum product pipeline in South Asia. And it has given a direct economic benefit to the people of that country as it has decreased the petroleum price by NRs 2/ litre.

Connectivity

India is assisting Nepal in the Terai Roads project, consisting of ten roads which connect Nepal’s East-West Highway to the Indian border.

As part of Asian Highway -02, the 6-lane major bridge across River Mechhi, connecting Kakarbhitta in Nepal to Panitanki in West Bengal, was completed last year.

Trade connectivity between the two neighbours has been further enhanced with the construction of Integrated Check-Posts at Birgunj; this was Nepal’s first ever Integrated Check post which was inaugurated in April 2018.  In 2020, another checkpost in  Biratnagar was inaugurated.

And, construction of two more ICPs in Nepalgunj and Bhairwaha are making good progress.

High Impact Community Development Projects (HICDPs) which are short-gestation projects is another important aspect of bilateral relations of the two countries. Starting 2003, around 523 HICDPs have been taken up by India and 467 have been completed so far, and work on the balance 56 is going on. The total worth of these projects according to sources in Indian currency is around Rs 706 crore.

Health Sector

In 2014, Nepal Bharat Maitri Emergency & Trauma Centre at a cost of Rs 100 crore, in Kathmandu was inaugurated.

Also, in the same year a new college block of BP Koirala Institute of Health Science, Dharan at a cost of Rs 125 crore was inaugurated.

Education

In 2000, Nepal Bharat Maitri Vidalaya, Pokhara for which India invested Rs 125 crore; the first polytechnic of its kind Manmohan Memorial Polytechnic, Morang was inaugurated in 2009.

 A major project is underway at an estimated cost of Rs 650 crore is the Construction of Nepal’s National Police Academy (NPA) at Kavrepalanchowk.

Projects under Lines of Credit

The government of India has extended a total of USD 1.65 billion to Nepal under four separate Lines of Credit and these have been utilized to finance several projects like reconstruction projects, roads, and transmission lines.

The ADB funded project executed by the Indian side and completed in early 2021 is the New Mechi Bridge connecting the Kakarvitta-Panitanki border.

In 2016, Prime Ministers of both countries launched the Muzaffarpur-Dhalkebar Power Transmission line. The Nepal portion of the 140 km long line was built under an Indian LoC of USD 13.5 million.

The 106 Km Koshi Corridor transmission costing a total of NRs 10.40 billion (USD 86.8 million) is being built under an India LoC, and once the remaining two packages are completed, the project will ensure smooth power evacuation from the generation projects which are coming up in the Arun and Tamor river basins, with power output totaling about 2000MW.

In October 2021, package 1 of the 220kV Double Circuit Koshi Corridor power transmission line (Inarwa-Basantpr-Baneshwar-Tumlingtar) was handed over to Nepal Electricity Authority.

Post-Earthquake Reconstruction

Following the earthquake of April 2015, Government of India had committed USD 1 billion, comprising USD 250 million as grant and USD 750 million as LoC, for post-earthquake reconstruction projects in that country.

In November 2021, the reconstruction of 50,000 houses at a cost of USD 100 million was completed.

Other projects being undertaken include construction of 132 health facilities across 10 districts and the reconstruction of 71 educational institutes in 8 districts. And, 28 cultural heritage projects in 7 districts are in the process of being restored, on which work on the ground has begun for 24.