Nepal-India agree to form institutional structures for waterways

The two-day bilateral discussion concluded today drew a conclusion to establish institutional mechanism to carry forward the process to materialize the water way projects in Nepal.

The meeting held to implement an agreement on inland waterways between Nepal and India during Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli’s State visit to India on last April 6-8.

The teams forged a consensus on forming the structure after reviewing the reports prepared by both sides in this connection.

The Water and Energy Commission has stated that the discussion has pointed out possibilities of operating waterways in Nepal. Both the sides have presented the progress and feasibility report on operating waterways.

There is huge potential of the operation of water ways in the Narayani and Koshi Rivers, and expansion of connectivity with Bangladesh and other countries.

Both the sides have agreed that it will have contributions to the economic development at substantial level.

In the negotiation, both the Nepali and Indian sides have agreed to immediately form technical teams from their sides to expedite the works in this regard.

The Nepali team will go for exposure visit of Kolkatta-Haldiya (Baranashi) waterways under-construction in the Ganga River. Likewise, the Indian technical team with experts will carry out on-site study on water ways in the Koshi and Narayani Rivers.

Wide discussion was held on the technical-economic feasibility of water ways in Koshi, Gandaki and Karnali rivers. The meeting also dwelt on the process and modality of water ways between Nepal and India.

The Indian side had hinted at providing training to human resources and institutional capacity development required for Nepal.