India and Nepal signed an Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the construction of a motorable Bridge over the Mahakali River connecting Dharchula (India) with Darchula (Nepal), under Indian grant assistance.
Minister for Physical Infrastructure and Transport, Nepal Renu Kumari Yadav said that the newly announced project to build a bridge over the Mahakali river would strengthen Nepal-India relations.
Benefits:
The project will improve cross-border connectivity between Nepal’s Sudurpaschim province and India’s Uttarakhand state, where close people-to-people ties exist between communities on both sides of the border.
This is in line with both governments’ shared goal of increasing cross-border connectivity to facilitate commercial, cultural, and people-to-people exchanges. The construction of the bridge is planned to commence soon.
India- Nepal Realtions:
As close neighbors, both nations share unique ties of friendship and cooperation characterized by an open border and deep-rooted people-to-people ties of kinship and culture. The free movement of people across borders has a long history. Nepal has a border with five Indian states – Sikkim, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, and Uttarakhand – spanning over 1,850 kilometres.
Connectivity and development partnership:
Development assistance to Nepal by the Indian Government has been a broad-based programme focusing on the creation of infrastructure at the grassroots level, through which various projects like infrastructure, health, water resources, education, and rural and community development have been implemented. In recent years, India is assisting Nepal in the development of border infrastructure by upgrading ten roads in the Terai region, developing cross-border rail links at Jogbani-Biratnagar and Jaynagar-Bardibas, and establishing Integrated Check Posts at Birgunj, Biratnagar, Bhairahawa, and Nepalgunj. In FY 2019-20, the total economic assistance earmarked under the ‘Aid to Nepal’ budget was 1,200 crore.
