New Delhi: India will aim to accelerate its economic cooperation and connectivity projects with Nepal during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s 11-12 May visit to the Himalayan country to narrow a trust deficit triggered by India’s opposition to Nepal’s 2015 constitution.
Modi’s visit this week will be his third to the country since taking office in May 2014. It comes just a little over a month after a visit to India by Nepal’s Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli.
“The main purpose of this visit is to build on the visit by Prime Minister Oli when he came in April, principally to carry forward the new initiatives we had announced at that point in time,” a person familiar with the development said, adding that there would be a review of ongoing and new projects with particular focus on how to implement them.
One of the highlights of the two-day visit is the inauguration of the 900 megawatts Arun 111 hydel power project by the two prime ministers.
The visit is expected to bridge a trust deficit between India and Nepal that is seen to have been caused by India’s opposition to Nepal’s 2015 constitution, which seemingly gave more privileges to the upper caste hill tribes as compared to the Tharus, Madhesis and the Janjatis. Oli, who was prime minister in 2016 and seen as closer to India’s strategic rival China, also accused New Delhi of engineering the downfall of his government ahead of a trust vote the same year.
With polls under the 2015 constitution in November-December bringing Oli back to power with a two-thirds majority, New Delhi now aims to engage Kathmandu to ensure that Nepal does not develop too friendly ties with China.
With a stable government in Nepal, India is looking at “how we will be able to consolidate that (India-Nepal) relationship,” the person cited above said.
“This is a government with a substantial majority and I think it was made very clear (during Oli’s April visit) ... that we are willing to work with the government” in Nepal, the person said.
During Oli’s visit, India and Nepal had agreed to construct a new electrified rail line, with India’s financial support, connecting the border city of Raxaul to Kathmandu in Nepal. This is seen as an attempt by New Delhi to counter China’s reported moves to build a rail link between Tibet and Kathmandu.
Another key decision taken was on the development of inland waterways to help the movement of cargo, within the framework of trade and transit arrangements, providing Nepal additional access to the sea.
The two prime ministers also attended the ground breaking ceremony of a transnational petroleum pipeline that will supply fuel from India to Nepal. The 69km pipeline from Motihari in Bihar to Amlekhganj in Nepal will deliver 2 million tonnes per annum of petroleum products to the fuel-starved country and will be built at a cost of around Rs200 crore.
In the month since Oli’s visit, India had identified the entity that would do the survey work for the Raxaul-Kathmandu rail link, according to the person quoted above. “We hope to finalize the MoU (memorandum of understanding) with the Nepalese side to do this survey work,” the person said.
Both sides are also looking at changes to their transit treaty bid to ensure that Nepal is both “land linked” and “water linked”, the person said, quoting from a comment Oli made during his visit.