Officials from Nepal and India held the fourth round of Nepal-India Oversight Mechanism meeting on Thursday to review the Indian-funded projects in Nepal and to clear bottlenecks if any to expedite them. 

The mechanism was established in September last year as per during the visit of then prime minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal to India to take necessary measures to ensure all the ongoing bilateral economic and development projects are implemented within the deadline. 

But recent assessments suggest the stature and report card of such projects 

remains unsatisfactory, as several projects, especially those related to infrastructure, energy, face red tape and bottlenecks. 

“We have already identified problems and glitches in the projects. Now, the time has come to expedite their execution,” said Foreign Secretary Shankar Das Bairagi, who led the Nepali delegation at the meeting with Indian Ambassador Manjeev Singh Puri. 

“We have agreed to execute and implement the projects after identifying the problems,” Bairagi said, assuring that there would be some tangible results soon. 

Besides senior officials from the two sides, representatives from developers and contractors of various economic and development cooperation projects were also present in the meeting to brief about difficulties facing them. 

According to the Foreign Ministry, a comprehensive review was made about 

the progress in the implementation of the bilateral economic and development cooperation projects since the third meeting of the mechanism held on the second week of April. 

Specific issues relating to the cross border rail projects, integrated check posts, cross-border transmission lines, Upper Karnali and Arun III hydropower projects, Pancheshwar Multipurpose project, postal roads, Exim Bank Line of Credit projects and reconstruction projects were covered during the meeting. 

While reiterating their commitment to the early completion of all bilateral economic and development cooperation projects within the specified timelines, both sides agreed to provide required facilities and resolve differences in an expeditious manner.

There are complaints that India-funded projects in Nepal are dragged unnecessarily long.