Kathmandu, June 17
A team of Nepali officials has gone to Beijing to discuss preparing the detailed project report for the proposed Kyirong-Kathmandu railway with the Chinese government.
After China put the cross border trans-Himalayan railway on the list of projects to be built under the Belt and Road Initiative, Nepal is hopeful that China will support constructing the ambitious project.
However, the two countries are yet to discuss who will fund the procedure to draft the DPR.
A delegation led by Devendra Karki, Secretary of the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport, has left for Beijing recently and it will meet Chinese officials over the issue, according to the Ministry officials.
Earlier, China had conducted a prefeasibility study of the project on its own. The study had concluded that the project would cost Rs 257 billion.
Preparing the DPR will also be costly. The Ministry estimates that if China does not agree to fund, Nepal has to spend Rs 1.7 billion for the DPR.
