Built under India’s grant assistance of Rs.44.48 million, the road was taken up as a high impact community development project agreed upon by the two countries

Symbolic of the close knit relationship between India and Nepal, a 108-km black-topped road connecting Indo-Nepal border to several areas of the Himalayan nation was jointly inaugurated on Friday.

“Inauguration of Blacktopped Road from Indian Border-Laxmipur-Balara to Gadhaiya in Sarlahi District of Nepal,” Indian Consulate in Birgunj in Nepal, tweeted.



Built under India’s grant assistance of Rs.44.48 million, the road was taken up as a high impact community development projects agreed upon by the two countries, a press statement issued by the Indian Consulate said.

The road was inaugurated by Consul General of India in Birgunj, Nitesh Kumar and Division Chief of Department of Roads, Chandraigahpur, Binod Kumar Mauwar. The newly-built road connecting the Indo-Nepal border is expected to ease the movement of daily commuters across the border, it added. Nepal saw an outlay of Rs 30.04 billion in India’s 2021-22 Budget.

Meanwhile, India on Friday had ordered the opening of all five bridges on the India-Nepal border adjoining Uttarakhand.

The resumption of cross-border movement came after 10 months since its suspension of cross-border traffic on March 23, 2020, following the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. Nepal had on January 28 decided to open up the border with India allowing citizens of the country to cross over.

India-Nepal relations began on a high note this year with Nepal Foreign Minister Pradeep Kumar Gyawali visiting New Delhi for India-Nepal Joint Commission meeting held on January 15.

Nepal’s Foreign Minister Gyawali co-chaired the meeting with his Indian counterpart, S Jaishankar where the two ministers discussed the entire gamut of bilateral relations between the two countries. Energy cooperation and connectivity emerged as the key takeaways from the meeting.

Both sides discussed expansion of the Motihari-Amlekhganj petroleum pipeline to Chitwan and establishment of a new pipeline on the eastern side connecting Siliguri to Jhapa in Nepal.