The 6^th meeting of Project Steering Committee for the strengthening of Road Infrastructure in the Terai area of Nepal was held on 24-25 October.  The Indian delegation was led by Abhay Thakur, Joint Secretary (North), Ministry of External Affairs, New Delhi, and included Sanjiv Ranjan, Joint Secretary in the Development Partnership Administration of the Ministry of External Affairs, concerned officials and representatives of the Consultants and the Contractors.

The Nepalese delegation was led by Sudarshan Ram Bhandary, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport, and included concerned officials from the Department of Roads, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as well as the respective Project Managers. 

According to a press release of Indian Embassy, the Indian delegation also called on Chabi Raj Panta, Minister of Physical Infrastructure and Transport and Tulasi Prasad Sitaula, Secretary, Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport. The delegation also visited the two project roads in Bara and Parsa districts.

The meeting was fruitful and positive.  The Project Steering Committee critically reviewed the progress in Phase I of the project, which includes 605 kms of 19 Terai roads, with a view to expedite implementation of the project and remove bottlenecks. 

In view of the delay in implementation of this project due to variety of factors, resulting in the lack of progress on entire stretches allotted to the various Contractors, it was decided to immediately start construction work in a prioritized manner beginning with encumbrance-free stretches, with the remaining stretches to be taken up as and when they are made available after removal of encumbrances. The Committee reiterated its resolve to ensure regular maintenance of these roads to keep them in a traffic-worthy condition.