Pardafas Reporter
Nepal is likely to sign a memorandum of understanding for conducting the feasibility study for the proposed Kerung-Kathmandu railway project with Chinese Minister for Foreign Affairs and State Councilor Wang Yi who will most likely visit Nepal this March 26.
Nepal’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs in line with Yi’s visit has expedited consultations to set the agenda, although government has not made any official announcement in this regard.
Foreign Minister Narayan Khadka have been consulting various government secretaries to discuss key issues and set the agenda for the visit, it has been known.
Sources said that majority of nearly a score of secretaries who met with Khadka have suggested that Nepal should expediting past agreements signed during Chinese President Xi Jinping’s Nepal visit in 2019, with primary focus on signing a memorandum of understanding for conducting the feasibility study for the proposed Kerung-Kathmandu railway project.
Currently, Nepal is awaiting additioan agrant from China besides the amount promised earlier, to carry out the feasibility study.
During Xi’s visit in 2019, Nepal and China had agreed to carry out a feasibility study of Kerung -Kathmandu rail project, as one of the key nine agreeemnts China pleaded to help. The multi-billion dollar railway project through Chinese funding however could never be started due to the Covid pandemic.
The pre-feasibility study of the Kerung-Kathmandu rail said that nearly 90 per cent of the proposed rail track would be either bridges or tunnels and the cost would be around Rs 3.55 billion per kilometer.
