Prime Minister KP Oli is heading to India on Friday for a five-day official visit. Oli had received an invite from counterpart when he became Prime Minister on October 11, 2015.
Finance Minister Bishnu Poudel, who will accompany Oli to Delhi, is considered one of Oli’s confidantes. Poudel went to the Indian capital in the first week of February to prepare for Oli’s visit. Onlinekhabar talked to the minister at his office in Singha Durbar on the agenda for the Prime Minister’s visit. Translated excerpts:
What are the objectives of Prime Minister’s official visit to India?
Indian Prime Minister Modi had congratulated KP Oli immediately after he was elected Prime Minister, and invited him to New Delhi. But for various reasons, a suitable date for the visit could not be fixed earlier. So the main objective of the visit is to expand Indo-Nepal ties in the new context.
The visit is aimed at making our relations stronger and lively. Both the countries are neighbours as well as friends. Both the countries are independent and sovereign. We want to make our friendship stronger taking all these things into account. We hope that this visit will prove to be a milestone towards that end.
This will the Prime Minister’s first foreign visit after the promulgation of the new constitution in Nepal. That is why we want to take our relations with our neighbours to new heights. We want to take our ties forward for mutual benefits. That is why this will be a ‘goodwill visit’.
The press has been saying that the Prime Minister will be accompanied by a ‘jumbo’ delegation. Is that so?
This is a hi-level visit. If you look at it from that perspective, the delegation that will accompany the Prime Minister is not big. I say that he size of the delegation is just appropriate for this visit. We should take with us a delegation that befits our prestige. He is the Prime Minister of the this country, how would it look if he goes on a foreign visit with just his personal secretariat to accompany him!
“This is a hi-level visit. If you look at it from that perspective, the delegation that will accompany the Prime Minister is not big.”
Do you see any possibility that the Indian government will announce a ‘surprise gift’ during Oli’s visit?
This is just a matter of speculation. We are not going to propose anything new during the visit. We just want things that have already been started to be concluded.
What are those things “that have already been started?” Does the Hulaki road fall into that category?
Our wish is to finish the double-lane Hulaki (postal) road within five years. One thing we need to note is that the Nepal government needs to build bridges on different sections of the road, and the Indian government the rest of the road.
“Our wish is to finish the double-lane Hulaki (postal) road within five years.”
We are discussion the project with the Indian government; we want to reach a conclusion soon.
The other project that we would like to draw your attention to is Pancheswor. Is it on the agenda?
Pancheswor is an important project we want to move forward. We want the project’s DPR to be ready, and finances manged so that construction can begin at the earliest. We believe that the Indian government is also on the same page on this.
What are the other things on the agenda?
The inter-country transmission line is also an important item on the agenda. Due to the lack of inter-country transmission lines, we are unable to import or export electricity. We want to build six transmission lines in different parts of the country; four of them will be of 400 KV and the rest 134 KV.
We want to build transmission lines in six different parts of the country.
What about Indian aid for post-quake reconstruction?
We have not been able to make use of Indian assistance for post-quake reconstruction. I would like to make one thing clear, we say that reconstruction is not happening , but how is it to happen? When we came to power, there was not even a law that would govern the process. The reconstruction authority was not there. The law was passed, how much effort it consumed is public knowledge.
There were those who doubted that the reconstruction authority would ever be established. But within week the authority was setup. Now the same people doubt that the reconstruction authority will carry out its duties effectively. To them I would like to say, we have already decided on what model the reconstruction work is to be carried out. We have even launched reconstruction as a mega campaign.
The government has announced that it will end powercuts within a year. For that to happen, new hydro projects would have to be built. Does the government have any plans to attract Indian investment in hydropower?
There are Indian companies who have already taken charge of projects like Upper Karnali and Arun III. They want to invest in other projects also. In the context of hydropower, there are 2-3 things I would like to stress.
We want projects that Indian companies are working on to gather pace.
First, we want the Pancheswor project to be expedieted. Second, we want the inter-country transmission line to be up. Third, we want project that Indian companies are working on to gather pace.
We need to create an investment-friendly environment in Nepal. For that we need political stability and peace. We also need to assure investors that Nepal is open for investment, and that they can get good returns if they invest in Nepal. We need to pay special attention to these things.
What would be India’s concerns?
When it comes to issues related to security, we have always clearly said the we will not allow our territory to be used against any neighbouring country. We will not allow any criminal element or terrorist organisation to take shelter in Nepal.
