Chinese side submits preliminary study report for Kerung-Kathmandu Railway

-Ramesh Lamsal
Kathmandu, December 11 : The National Railway Authority of China has submitted its preliminary study report of the Kerung-Kathmandu Railway to the government of Nepal on December 10, paving the way to furthering construction process of the Railway expected to increase connectivity and accessibility between Nepal and China.
The National Railway Authority’s Vice-Administrator Aan Lu Tsung submitted the preliminary study report regarding the construction of the Kerung-Kathmandu Railway to Secretary of Ministry for Physical Infrastructures and Transportation Management (MoPITM), Madhusudan Adhikari.
MoPITM’s Railway Department’s Spokesperson Amin Chitrakar shared that the Chinese side submitted the report today and that discussions would be held between the concerned authorities of the two countries regarding how to forward the construction process of the Kerung-Kathmandu Railway.
According to Spokesperson Chitrakar, Nepal-China railway Cooperation Committee’s meeting started taking place in Kathmandu from today where a team led by Secretary Adhikari was exploring means and ways to forward the construction of the Railway.
Discussions were held on preparing the Detailed Project Report based on the today’s report and determining the framework for earliest investment into this multi-billion dollars project.
The Chinese technical team is scheduled to take up a field-study regarding the Railway that is estimated to be measure 80 kilo metres and would be completed within 8 years at the estimated construction cost over Rs 300 billion.
The Chinese team is leaving for Rasuwa for a field trip on Tuesday while the team would set out for Pokhara on Wednesday to study the Kathmandu-Pokhara Railway.
A Chinese Company had earlier conducted the feasibility study of the Kathmandu-Pokhara Railway which would measure 171 kilo metres.
Today’s meeting has accorded high priority on Kerung-Kathmandu Railway while an extensive discussion on preparing the DPR on the same Railway was also held in the meeting. The meeting has agreed that the next meeting of concerned officials to be held in China would make further decisions on the same, added Chitrakar.
Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli in his last official visit to China in June this year had met with the Chinese leadership where significant understanding was reached with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Li Keqiang to further expanding bilateral cooperation in various fields including through cross border railway connectivity.
Immediately after that, the Chinese team had conducted a field study for the Railway.
The study had covered various aspects such as geological studies of places across Kathmandu, Nuwakot, Trishuli in Nepal to Kerung in China and their geographic positions as well as the marking the landmarks among others.
The Railway is prioritized to be constructed in the tunnel system given the geographical complexity in both countries. RSS