The 5th bilateral Line of Credit (LoC) Review Meeting between the Governments of India and Nepal concluded. The Indian delegation was led  by Ajit Gupte, Joint Secretary (DPA-I), Ministry of External Affairs and the Nepalese delegation was led by Baikuntha Aryal, Joint Secretary, International Economic Cooperation Coordination Division, Ministry of Finance.  T

“The concerned Nepalese authorities from the Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Finance, and Physical Infrastructure and Transport, Energy and Irrigation participated in the meeting,” said a press release issued by Indian Embassy.

The meeting reviewed the progress made on the projects under the Lines of Credit for US$100 million (LOC-I) and US$ 250 million (LOC-II) extended by the Government of India to the Government of Nepal, through EXIM Bank of India. Various projects which have been approved for implementation as well as the projects for which preparation of DPRs are under process by the Government of Nepal, under Line of Credit for US$ 550 million (LOC-III), were also discussed during the meeting.

“Under LOC-III, the Government of India has approved inclusion of 16 road projects including the Mahakali bridge.  The road projects are to be developed by consolidating the packages of 11 road packages and 1 bridge project since it was desirable to keep smaller number of packages to attract quality contractors,” said a press release issued by Indian Embassy.

 Both sides also discussed the modalities for implementation of the Line of Credit for US $ 750 million pledged by the Government of India for the post-earthquake reconstruction of Nepal, which is now ready for operationalization.

The meeting agreed to expediting the Rahughat Hydroelectric, Koshi Corridor, Solu Corridor and Modi-Lekhnath Transmission line projects, Capacity development of NRA and other official agencies by way of familiarization programs for LOCs and setting up of Joint Monitoring Teams to meet on a quarterly basis to ensure better monitoring and speedy implementation of the projects.

Next LoC Review Meeting would be held in August 2017, in India.