Nepal road transport plan finds funding

Nepal’s Kathmandu-Tarai highway now looks likely to be built under an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract. This is a revision from the build-own-operate-transfer (BOOT) model previously suggested. Nepal's Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport has announced the change for the project, which had an estimated cost of US$1.04 billion when put forward in 2015. The detailed project report (DPR) for the highway is likely to be set out by consortium, from India. The Nepalese Government has been evaluating options over the project. The DPR will be used as a reference document for the EPC tender and the winning contractor will then carry out a detailed engineering report to determine the cost of the work. Meanwhile a loan worth US$536.8 million is being provided by India for work to Nepal’s road and bridge links.