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31 October 2014

India pushes for Delhi to Kathmandu bus service

Oct 31, 2014

TOI has learnt that New Delhi would offer an equal participatory super luxury bus service through their respective operators.

NEW DELHI: India is pushing for a direct bus service between New Delhi and Kathmandu and is even keen to fund new road projects in areas including Janakpur where Ram Janaki temple is located. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Nepal on November 25 to attend the SAARC summit and is likely travel to the country via land route. 

Before his second visit to the Himalayan nation, a top level delegation of road transport ministry visited Kathmandu to work out modalities to start the bus service between the two capitals. Sources said initially Nepal had identified 19 routes for bus service between the two countries and then shortlisted the routes to only four. Finally, it narrowed down the proposal to only Delhi-Kathmandu route.

TOI has learnt that New Delhi would offer an equal participatory super luxury bus service through their respective operators. Officials said there is now intense engagement with the intention to see the plan materializes so that an official announcement can be made during Modi's visit. 

In another move to boost ties, Nepal has referred five fresh road packages to India seeking financial assistance. Three of these road stretches are part of the Janakpur Parikrama Road, which almost circles the religious town of Janakpur. The five projects would cost about Rs 180 crore. 

After going through the project details, the road transport ministry has recommended these are feasible. It has suggested that the projects should be executed through Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) mode, which is being followed in India. Under this mechanism projects are awarded only after required land and necessary clearances are in possession. This system also eliminates delay in construction and cost overrun. 

Sources said the external affairs ministry will take the final call about the execution of these projects. 

Meanwhile, the government is likely to decide on the three road packages in Nepal where there is either no progress or very little progress so far even after these projects were awarded in 2010-11. A total of six packages totaling 605 km were awarded by Indian government during that period. 

Government officials said that external affairs ministry had sought technical advice of the road transport ministry on the "no-progress" projects. The latter has recommended that three such projects should be terminated and government should invite fresh bids on EPC mode. The ministry has also shown keen interest to take up these works by National Highways Infrastructure Development Corporation Ltd, a government company established to execute road projects in border areas.

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