Some brief overview on infrastructure Nepal bound sea cargo comes through Calcutta and Haldia, only operational sea-ports the

Government of India has permitted for transit facility to Nepal. After clearance by Indian port and customs authorities in Calcutta, cargo is forwarded by rail/road to the land customs post of the Indo-Nepal border. http://www.asiatradehub.com/nepal/transport.asp

The Rural Infrastructure Development Project was completed in 2005. This was funded by the Asian Development Bank headquartered out of Manila. India and Nepal are founding members of this bank, but China joined in 1986 and are the second largest ADB borrower and the largest client for private sector financing. There are some nice maps on p. 8. This doesn’t link China or India to Nepal per se, but it did greatly improve roads within Nepal itself and I thought it was worth a look. http://www.adb.org/Documents/PCRs/NEP/25322-NEP-PCR.pdf

Recent Chinese Road Projects in Nepal The website for the Nepali foreign ministry has a list of projects completed by 2006 and

ongoing projects. I have supplemented this with searches for current projects through the news.

o List of completed projects: Arniko Highway (104 Km) Arniko Highway (Rehabilitation) Kathmandu Bhaktapur Road (13 Km) Prithvi Highway and Surface Pitch Paving (174 Km) Narayanghat-Mugling Road (36 Km) Gorkha Narayanghat Road   Kajhuwa-Gorkha-Road (24 Km) Kathmandu-Bhaktapur Trolly Bus (14 Km) Kathmandu Ring Road (27.2 Km) X. Pokhara-Baglung Road (65 Km) Seti River Bridge at Pokhara

o Ongoing projects: Syafrubesi-Rasuagadhi Road Update: January 27 2010: “But it's an important investment because this

mountain pass not only connects Tibet to Nepal - it's also the most direct land route to India's capital, Delhi.” This highway has been talked about since 2001 but is finally under construction and according to this article should be completed in a year. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8480637.stm

Oct 15 2009: Not underway but worth watching: “It is understood that Nepali prime minister Madhav Kumar Nepal [from the CPN – M/L] expressed the hope again that

China can extend the Qinghai-Tibet Railway, connecting Beijing and Lhasa, to Kathmandu, capital of Nepal, to promote economic and trade ties between China and Nepal.” http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90001/90776/90883/6784371.html

July 19 2010: Landport connecting Nepal to South Asia. “The idea is to apparently build it as a border post larger than Nathula on the India-China border and the existing border post connecting the Chinese town of Zhanmu and the Nepali town of Dram. There are five other minor points for overland trade on the China-Nepal border, which are Kodari-Nyalam; Rasuwa-Kerung; Yari (Humla)-Purang; Olangchunggola-Riyo; Kimathanka-Riwo, and Nechung (Mustang)-Legze.” http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/search?q=biggest%20land%20port

Recent Indian Road Projects in Nepal

The Nepali Foreign Ministry lists a lot of discussions and potential projects with India up to 2006, but not much that actually happened; it seems that in the last year India has significantly ramped up its construction of roads.

Projects that were completed before 2006 according to Nepali foreign ministry:o 2001 Construction of 22 bridges on Kohalpur-Mahakali Highway Sector.

http://mofa.gov.np/bilateralRelation/nepal-india.phpo 2006 Raxaul-Sirsiya Broad-Gauge Rail Link Project

http://mofa.gov.np/bilateralRelation/nepal-india.php Feb 8 2010 “Last involved in building the country’s East-West highway in 1997...” “With

the Chinese stepping up participation in infrastructure projects in Nepal, India has launched a Rs-1,700 crore road-and-rail infrastructure initiative in the Madhes (terai) region of the Himalayan country. http://www.indianexpress.com/news/india-returns-to-nepal-with-road-rail-projects-near-border/577031/

Feb 16 2010 A Memorandum of Understanding was signed between the two countries for railway infrastructure development at five border points along Nepal-India border. http://www.mynews.in/News/India,_Nepal_agree_to_ensure_South_Asian_connectivity_N38463.html

July 12 2010 The construction of 100 km Darchula-Tinkar road that will connect far-western districts with the Nepal, India, China tri-border has begun, Kantipur daily reported. http://www.nepalnews.com/main/index.php/business-a-economy/7502-construction-of-darchula-tinkar-road-begins.html

August 24, 2010 -- The Indian government has initiated the long stalled process of executing the Tarai-Madhes Postal Road Project under which 20 strategic roads will be constructed in the Tarai belt in the first phase. http://www.myrepublica.com/portal/index.php?action=news_details&news_id=22506

China in the Karakoram Corridor

June 22 2006 China is fashioning two north-south strategic corridors on either side of India — the Trans-Karakoram Corridor stretching right up to Gwadar, at the entrance to the Strait of Hormuz; and the Irrawaddy Corridor involving road, river and rail links from Yunnan right up to the Burmese ports. http://www.indoburmanews.net/archives-1/archive06/june_06/139/

Jan 21 2008 The Export Import Bank of China has signed a loan agreement with Pakistan for the up-gradation of Karakoram Highway project. http://www.pakistanviews.com/uncategorized/pak-china-sign-loan-agreement-to-finance-up-gradation-of-karakoram-highway.html

July 7 2010 After bringing a rail line close to the Indian border with Tibet, China is gearing to push a rail link across the Karakoram into Pakistan through the Gilgit-Baltistan region that is part of the original state of Jammu and Kashmir. http://www.indianexpress.com/news/china-plans-karakoram-rail-link-to-pak-and/643303/

Sept 5 2010 – This 3 page article has a detailed list of current Chinese projects in Pakistan – and there are quite a few: http://www.indianexpress.com/news/more-than-troops-chinese-projects-in-pok-worry-india/677450/2

Other items of interest The Nathu La Pass was opened for trade between India and China on July 6 2006.

http://en.tibet.cn/newfeature/cknduila/ckndl_zxbd/t20060619_130526.htm Is not directly connected to Nepal, but it’s a key point for trade between India and China and trade there has been increasing over the past 4 years…stuff happening there might be worth watching.

So apparently there is this think tank called the Institute of Foreign Affairs, and they just had a conference about making Nepal into a transit state. I wasn’t able to link any of the main players in the think tank to the Maoists, but most of the articles produced by the conference stressed how Nepal could use its location between China and India for prosperity. It’s interesting to look at what they are producing: http://www.ifa.org.np/new/book5.php

A Pakistani think tank article about possible partnership with China and the potential benefits for Nepal: http://ipripak.org/journal/winter2010/Article4.pdf

Maybe India is offering to help Nepal expand a bit as long as it isn’t China? http://www.mynews.in/News/India,_Nepal_agree_to_ensure_South_Asian_connectivity_N38463.html

(Maps on next page)

Maps

From 2001 but shows you how many more roads connect India to Nepal…also shows you the five points at which Nepal can be connected to China via roads.http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_I2sM_igyEuY/S_zlZugOGrI/AAAAAAAAAe8/av49_bxUMc4/s1600/roadways-map+of+nepal.jpg

Big version: http://www.mapsorama.com/maps/asia/nepal/nepal.jpg