Nepal lauds continuous financial and developmental support provided by India

Kathmandu, April 18 (IANS) The foundation stone for the construction of a school building being built with the Indian government's financial assistance at a project cost of Nepalese Rs 28.10 million was laid in the Morang district of Nepal, on Friday.

India's grant under 'Nepal-India Development Cooperation' is being utilised for the construction of the triple-storied building of Shree Panchayat Secondary School and other allied facilities at Sundarharaicha Municipality in the Morang district of Nepal.

The foundation stone was laid jointly by Nepal's Minister of Social Development for Koshi Province Panchakarna Rai, Sundarharaicha Municipality Mayor Kedar Prasad Guragain and Second Secretary at the Embassy of India Garima Nautiyal.

Political representatives, government officials, social workers and teachers of the school, students, and their parents were also present on the occasion.

The project is being taken up as a High Impact Community Development Project (HICDP) and is being implemented through Sundarharaicha Municipality, Morang.

The officials from Nepal, the school management, and other stakeholders appreciated the developmental support being provided by India to the people of Nepal.

They expressed confidence that the infrastructure being created would help in providing better education to the students of Shree Panchayat Secondary School in Morang. It would also help create an improved environment for learning and contribute to the overall development of the education sector in the region.

Since 2003, India has taken up over 573 HICDPs in Nepal in various sectors and completed 495 projects. Amongst these, 91 projects are in Koshi Province, including 16 projects in Morang. In addition to these, the Government of India has gifted 1009 ambulances and 300 school buses to various hospitals, health posts, and educational institutions in Nepal. Amongst these, 146 ambulances and 48 school buses have been gifted in Koshi Province. Out of these, 21 ambulances and 15 school buses were gifted in Morang.

As close neighbours, India and Nepal are engaged in wide-ranging and multi-sectoral cooperation. The implementation of HICDPs reflects India's continued support in bolstering the efforts of Nepal government to boost growth and development by augmenting infrastructure in priority sectors.

India is the largest developmental donor of Nepal with the major portion of developmental assistance focussed on large-scale infrastructure projects under grants, necessary for the rapid development of Nepal, in the field of priority sectors such as health, education, and connectivity.

Earlier this month, Nepal Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli said that he had “extremely fruitful and positive” discussions with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the sidelines of the 6th BIMSTEC Summit in Bangkok.

"Had a productive meeting with Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli in Bangkok. India attaches immense priority to relations with Nepal. We discussed different aspects of India-Nepal friendship, especially in sectors like energy, connectivity, culture, and digital technology. We also talked about some of the key positive outcomes from this year’s BIMSTEC Summit, especially in areas of disaster management and maritime transport," PM Modi posted on X after the meeting.

--IANS

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