China to conduct detailed project report for Kathmandu monorail

Nepal on Wednesday signed an agreement with a Chinese state-run construction company for conducting a detailed project report for a 27-km monorail project in the capital city of Kathmandu, an official said.

Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC) mayor Bidya Sundar Shakya and China Railway Construction Corporation (CRCC) director of overseas business management department Zhao Guangbing signed the Memorandum of Understanding here, a top official said.

CRCC's China Railway 25th Bureau Group Corporation Limited will complete the Detailed Project Report (DPR) within a year.

According to the preliminary study report, the proposed monorail along Kathmandu's 27 kms ring road would cost an estimated Rs 116 billion (USD 1.03 billion).

The Chinese company said that the project will be completed within three years after submitting the DPR, KMC's deputy mayor Hari Prabha Khadgi Shrestha said.

"It is the beginning of a long-term project in Nepal and first of its kind. We will do our best to make it successful," Zhao said.

Based on the agreement, the Chinese company will bear all the expenses for the DPR.

The contract for the railway project would be awarded through open competition under the Build, Own and Operate (BOOT) model, Shakya said.