Kathmandu, November 29:

The Indian embassy here has said that reports that India is planning to construct a highway near the Nepal-India border are absolutely wrong .

In a press release today, it said that the embassy has noticed a plethora of media reports in Nepal about a highway allegedly being constructed by India along the border. These reports, sometimes accompanied by inflammatory and motivated comments, have no basis, it said. No such project is being implemented, or is even on the drawing board, the release said.

As and when a project such as this is considered for implementation, it will certainly be discussed with the government of Nepal, it added. A number of agreements and institutionalised mechanisms for discussions exist for such a purpose. This has been conveyed to Nepal’s Foreign Minister by the Indian Ambassador when they met two days ago. The release also said that as part of its assistance for Nepal’s development, with the full agreement of the Government of Nepal, India is going to construct over 1500 km of roads in Nepal, with an outlay of over Rs 1200 crores, for which a detailed project report is in advanced stage.