Nepal awards key expressway project near Indian border to Chinese company

The Nepal Army has awarded the contract to build a key phase of a strategic expressway linking the capital Kathmandu with the southern plains to a Chinese firm, ignoring a bid by Indian's Afcons Infrastructure, according to a report in The Economic Times.

The report, citing people aware of the matter, said that China First Highway Engineering lacked the technical expertise to build the sixth phase of the Kathmandu-Terai-Madhesh Expressway and was disqualified initially. However, a backdoor entry was allowed later.

The Nepal Army, which is overseeing the project, issued a letter of intent to the Chinese firm last week, less than 10 days before the landlocked country heads into the general elections.
 

The companies whose bids were rejected are thinking of approaching the court as the bidding process was less than transparent, ET reported. It added that the Chinese company filed a proposal of 18.786 billion Nepali rupees, and Afcons submitted a bid for 19.99 billion Nepali rupees.
 

The expressway will connect Kathmandu to Nijgadh in the terai region, closer to the Indian border. It is expected to reduce the travel duration between the two cities to one hour, according to The Kathmandu Post.

 
The construction was launched in 2017 with a new deadline to complete it by July 2024., after the initial deadline was missed owing to various reasons, including sluggish pace of work.