India to develop cross-border railways soon

Commits 340 million dollars for roads

Kathmandu, Feb. 19: India has expressed its interest in creating cross-border railway connectivity with Nepal at the earliest.

Indian Union Minister for Railways Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu Sunday said that India will create the cross-border railway connectivity as soon as possible in order to establish faster mode of connection between Kathmandu and Indian capital New Delhi.

"Nepal and India are the twins, and we should grow together," said Prabhu while addressing the inauguration ceremony of the Infrastructure Summit 2017.

The government is working on cross-border railway connectivity at five different points to connect Nepalgunj, Bhairahawa, Janakpur, Biratnagar, and Kakarbhitta to the Indian Railway lines across the Nepal-India border.

A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between Nepal and India in 2011 during the visit of then President Dr. Ram Baran Yadav.

Prabhu suggested Nepal to invest at least 10 per cent of its annual Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in infrastructure development.

It means Nepal has to spend about 2.5 billion US dollars in infrastructure financing since the size of country's economy is 22.48 dollars.

"Nepal is a country at a threshold of growth which has huge infrastructure deficit, and is running short of resources to finance its infrastructure needs. Therefore, it should attract highest possible foreign direct investment (FDI) in large scale infrastructure projects," he said.

Minister Prabhu was generous enough urge the international investors to come to Nepal as it was high time to make investment in infrastructure in the country.

Meanwhile, he had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport of 340 million USD for the development of roads.

He said that the two neighbours should work together in developing hydroelectricity, and in the areas of climate change because despite of lowest per capita emission, the people in the region are affected by the climate change impacts.

Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda remarked that infrastructure development was the top most priority of the government.

"Infrastructure is the launching pad for other development woks, and it minimizes the cost of production and propels growth," he said.

According to the PM, natural resources, geographical location and young population were the three advantages of the country at present.

He said that the government was facilitating the private sectors and foreign investors in order to motivate them to invest in infrastructure projects.

"With the implementation of investment friendly policies, we are creating foundation for FDI in infrastructure projects. We have market-friendly labour policy, cheap labour market, and better performance in terms of doing business environment in comparison with other South Asian countries," said PM Prachanda.

Vice-president of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) Wencai Zhang urged the government to invest in quality infrastructure.

He urged the government to invest 8-12 per cent of the GDP in infrastructure like airports, hydroelectricity, roads and bridges.

"The government should promote technology transfer by reforming policies. Developing economic corridor, cross-border trade, connectivity and power can make Nepal an economy hub in the region, and boos the economic growth as well," said Zhang.

Minister for Physical Infrastructure and Transport Ramesh Lekhak said that the Public-Private-Partnership would be the best model to Nepal for infrastructure development, and informed that the government was devising clear policy and guidelines with an aim of attracting investment in infrastructure sector.

Similarly, Minister for Tourism, Culture and Civil Aviation Jivan Bahadur Shahi said that the Ministry was taking initiatives for national tourism strategy.

President of the Confederation of Industries (CNI) Hari Bhakta Sharma said that the development could only be boosted with the participation of private sector and called for favourable policies for the same.

The two-day conference is being organised by the CNI in association with the government and Youth Community for Nepalese Contractors (YCNC).