PM Narendra Modi gives Rs 1 billion to develop Sita's birthplace

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Friday Nepal is on the top of India's ‘Neighbourhood First’ policy, as he announced a Rs 1-billion package to develop Janakpur.

Earlier in the day, Modi landed in Janakpur, revered as the birthplace of Sita, and along with Nepal PM K P Oli inaugurated a direct bus service between Janakpur and Ayodhya as part of a ‘Ramayan Circuit’ to promote religious tourism. Modi also visited the 20th century Janaki temple, dedicated to Sita, where he offered special prayers. 

Modi and Oli on Friday jointly laid the foundation stone of the 900-megawatt Arun III Hydroelectric Power Plant in the Tumlingtar area in eastern Nepal, through a remote system from Kathmandu.

Oli said Nepal's desire is to create a strong relationship underpinned by mutual trust and is not affected by any “occasional or intermittent differences that are natural between neighbours.”

Oli was apparently referring to the strain in ties after adoption of a new Constitution by Nepal in 2015 that divided the country into seven provincial units and marginalised Madhesis, largely of Indian-origin and inhabitants of the Terai.

The move triggered an agitation, from September 2015 to February 2016, during Oli's first tenure, in which more than 50 people were killed. The agitation had also crippled the land-locked country's economy, as supplies from India were blocked.

Oli said India and Nepal have agreed to address "all matters" by September 19 — Nepal's Constitution Day. 

Modi said this was his third visit to Nepal since assuming office in 2014 and it shows his government's "deep commitment" to further strengthen ties with Nepal. He called for transforming Nepal from a land-locked country to a water- and land- linked nation.

The hydroelectric project is expected to bring in US$ 1.5 billion foreign direct investment into Nepal and  create jobs. 

Investment Board Nepal (IBN) recently granted the licence to Satluj Jala Vodyut Nigam Power Development Company, a subsidiary of Indian government-owned Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam Ltd, to generate power from the Arun-III Hydropower Project, nearly 500-km from Kathmandu.

Arun-III is the largest capacity project in the history of hydroelectricity that is scheduled to be constructed within the next five years.

The Nepal government will receive benefits worth Nepali Rupees 348 billion from the project as royalty, income tax, customs tariff and free energy in the concession period of 25 years. The project will also provide 21.9 per cent or 197 megawatts of the generated energy free of cost to Nepal. 

Last month, the compound wall of the Arun-III plant's office in Tumlingtar area was damaged in the explosion, weeks before its inauguration.