KATHMANDU, JUL 11 -Nepal has asked for assistance from South Korea in its effort to develop a national railway network. It has requested South Korea to help carry out studies and impart training to enhance the technical capacity of Nepal i government officials.
A 12-member Korean delegation led by Lee Jong Kook, director general of Railway Safety and Planning, Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, was in Kathmandu recently to discuss possible cooperation, and Nepal reiterated its request to prepare a detailed project report (DPR) of the 100-km Kakkarbhitta-Itahari section of the proposed East-West Electric Railway Project.
The Korean team returned home on Wednesday after the first annual meeting between senior officials of the two countries. South Korea has been showing keen interest in helping Nepal to develop its railways.
“The meeting was focused on the possibilities of cooperation in the development of railway service in Nepal ,” said Tulasi Prasad Sitaula, secretary at the Physical Planning Ministry. A team consisting of joint secretary-level government officials will be leaving for training in Korea next month. Nepal might sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Korea on mutual cooperation for development of transport infrastructure including railways during the visit, he added.
Last November, Korea sent a draft MoU to Nepal expressing interest to support capacity enhancement, infrastructure development and technology transfer for railway development. The Physical Planning Ministry said that the MoU was ready and had been sent to the Cabinet for its approval.
Tuesday’s meeting was the first held between the two governments to identify areas of mutual cooperation in railway service development. The Physical Infrastructure Ministry made a presentation about the ongoing DPR studies, railway laws and the government’s plans at the meeting. Sitaula said that the next meeting would be held next year in Korea as per the understanding between the two countries.
The government has been working on ambitious railway plans such as an east-west electric railway and a metro railway in Kathmandu. It is presently carrying out a DPR of the Lumbini-Pathlaiya section of the east-west railway using Korean consultants. It plans to start a DPR of the 400-km Lumbini-Mahendra Nagar section in the next fiscal year 2013-14.
The planned east-west railway will be 945.24 km long and link Kakkarbhitta, Jhapa in the east with Gaddachouki, Mahendra Nagar in the west. The line will pass through Itahari, Bardibas, Simara, Tamsariya, Lumbini, Butwal, Kohalpur and Attariya.
The Physical Infrastructure Ministry plans to spend Rs 2.80 billion in the next fiscal year on railway studies, payment of compensation for land acquired for the Bardibas for broad gauge railway track and a feasibility study for north-south railway links. “Since the expressions of interest submitted have been evaluated and approved, we will be focusing on DPRs of the western section of the east-west railway,” said Sitaula.
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