KATHMANDU, Dec 28: A high-level team of Chinese experts arrived in Kathmandu on Tuesday to conduct a feasibility study and survey of the Kathmandu-Kerung railway with the grant from China. This comes a day after newly-elected Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal assumed office. 

The Department of Railways confirmed that the Chinese technical team arrived in Kathmandu to conduct the feasibility study of the Nepal-China cross-border railway. The pre-feasibility of the task has been already completed.  

The Embassy of China in Kathmandu also confirmed the arrival of a technical team in Nepal.  The embassy said that ‘the first batch of Chinese experts have arrived in Kathmandu to conduct the feasibility study and survey of the China-Nepal cross-border railway’.

Spokesperson of the Department of Railways Aman Chitrakar said that the feasibility study will be advanced in collaboration with the Chinese experts and the department. It is said that the Chinese side considers the feasibility study as the detailed project report (DPR).   

Earlier, the Government of Nepal had urged the Chinese side to carry out the feasibility study. However, the arrival of the Chinese team was stalled due to the COVID-19 pandemic and other reasons.  

The team will carry out the study on the overall project. 

Conducting the feasibility study and survey of the China-Nepal cross-border railway has been a long-cherished dream of the Nepali people and an important consensus reached among the leaders of the two countries, the embassy said in a statement.

The embassy said that it is also an integral part of jointly building the Belt and Road Initiative between China and Nepal adding that China gives priority to Nepal’s aspiration and needs in this regard, and will proactively push ahead with the study.

The two countries will maintain close contact and coordination in jointly carrying out the work ahead with a view of building trans-Himalayan multi-dimensional connectivity network, it is said.