According to the MoPIT, China Infrastructure Investment Corporation (CIIC) has submitted a written proposal to construct the expressway under the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract. The local agents two Indian companies—Shapoorji Pallonji and Company Limited and Reliance Infrastructure—paid a visit to the ministry to confirm their interest to construct the project.  

The road project linking Kathmandu with Nijgadh of Bara is estimated to cost Rs 100 billion. Nijgadh is also the location where the government has a plan to build country’s second international airport (SIA). Earlier, the government had planned to construct the road under build-own-operate and transfer (BOOT) modal.

The Chinese company has also promised to help in facilitating loan for the project, according the ministry. “Its local representatives have submitted the proposal at the ministry in which the Chinese company has stated that it can bring loan from EXIM Bank of China,” said Tulasi Prasad Sitaula, secretary at the ministry.

According to Sitaula, they have asked the local representative to invite CIIC officials in Nepal and make a detailed presentation about their plan on the Fast Track road.

“Since local agents of Shapoorji Pallonji and Reliance Infrastructure from India showed interest informally, we have asked them to bring in concerned officials from India along with their proposals,” said Ananta Acharya, chief of the Fast Track Project.

The National Planning Commission (NPC) is reviewing the project development and financing mechanisms after three previously shortlisted bidder—Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services (IL&FS) and Larsen and Toubro (L&T) Infrastructure Development Project and Reliance—did not submit the RFP for the project.

The ministry has proposed the NPC to undertake the Fast Track project either through government funding or arrange loans from the donor agencies.

After the “bitter experience” of not receiving the RFP last year, Acharya said, the ministry is considering the foreign bids with more care this time around. The ministry is planning to discuss the interest of all three companies in the next NPC meeting.

Shapoorji Pallonji is one of the oldest infrastructure companies in India and Reliance Infrastructure is the one of three Indian firms that did not submit RFP last year.

Headquartered in China’s Henan Province, the CIIC focuses on investment in construction, operation and management of infrastructure development projects in China. The company is currently engaged in the Pinglin Expressway, a toll road in Henan Province.