Kathmandu, August 31

The National Reconstruction Authority (NRA) and India have started talks on mobilising the line of credit (LoC) facility worth $750 million being provided by the Indian government for the reconstruction process of Nepal.

The two parties have decided to utilise the line of credit for the reconstruction of schools and university buildings, government owned buildings, cultural heritage sites, health sector buildings and for disaster preparedness.

The Central Level Programme Implementation Units under the various ministries will prepare the detail designs of the projects, which will be implemented under the LoC facility. According to Bhishma Bhusal, joint spokesperson of NRA, the detail designs of the projects will be submitted to the Export Import (EXIM) Bank of India, which is providing the line of credit, for approval.

Earlier, the NRA had allocated the amount of the line of credit facility for the construction of personal houses that had been destroyed by the devastating earthquake of April 2015 but now the said amount will be transferred for the aforementioned projects.

Speaking in a training programme organised by NRA and the Indian Embassy here today, Nadeem Panjetan, general manager of EXIM Bank India, said the NRA could spend up to one per cent of the total LoC amount to hire consultants.

Nepal and India had agreed to expedite LoC mobilisation during Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba’s recent visit to India. Following the decision, the NRA and the Embassy of India in Kathmandu jointly organised a two-day training programme on the EXIM Bank’s guidelines and procedures, which concluded today. A total of 23 government officials associated with various ministries and the NRA participated in training programme.

According to NRA, the training programme was organised as part of a bilateral understanding reached between Nepali and Indian government officials during the fifth LoC review meeting held in February.

The training programme covered general introduction of EXIM Bank’s LoC.