Kathmandu, 02 December (HS). All eyes are on the agreements to be made during the visit of Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, who left for Beijing on Monday on a four-day visit to China. The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is expected to be signed with China. Regarding this agreement, there has been an agreement between the ruling party Nepali Congress and UML not to sign any project taking loan from China. During the Prime Minister’s visit to China, Nepal is going to submit a list of only those projects in which grants will be received from China instead of loans.
Nepal’s ruling party has proposed signing the BRI Framework with China in exchange for China’s proposed BRI Implementation Agreement. Foreign Minister Dr. Arzoo Rana, who recently returned from a two-day visit to China, said that it has been clearly conveyed to China that it will take only grants and not loans. In the list of projects submitted by Nepal to China, proposals ranging from railways to highways and from highways to pod ways have been made. Apart from this, Nepal has also proposed construction of everything from hydropower to transmission lines and from hospitals to universities. Not only this, Nepal has sought cooperation from China for everything from science museum to industrial park.
The working group formed between the two ruling parties regarding BRI was responsible for the selection of projects to be funded by China. Two out of three members of this working group have gone on a visit to Beijing along with Prime Minister’s Principal Political Advisor Vishnu Rimal and Prime Minister’s Economic Advisor Dr. Yuvraj Khatiwada Oli. On behalf of Nepali Congress, party general secretary Gagan Thapa has given information about the list of projects proposed by Nepal. According to him, the projects that have been selected for agreement just before the Prime Minister’s visit to China are as follows –
• Tokha-Chhare tunnel route
• Hilsa-Simkot road
• Kimathanka-Khandabari road route
• Geelong-Kerung-Kathmandu cross-border railway.
• Kathmandu Hetauda Podway
• Amargarhi City Hall, Dadeldhura
• Geelong–Kerung–Rasuwagadhi Chilime 220 KV Cross Border Transmission Line
• Kathmandu Ring Road and Transmission Line Upgradation
• Madan Bhandari Technical University
• Kathmandu Scientific Center and Science Museum
• China-Nepal Friendship Industrial Park, Damak
• Jhapa Sports and Athletics Complex
