KATHMANDU, August 10

The government of China has shown interest to assist Nepal in establishing a fertiliser plant. 

Nepal’s northern neighbour was ready to complete all the works related to the establishment of a fertiliser plant within the next year,
according to Chinese Ambassador to Nepal Chen Song.

Ambassador Chen made the remark during his meeting with editors of mainstream Nepal media on Thursday evening, according to the Rastriya Samachar Samiti (RSS).

The ambassador reiterated that the works related to the fertiliser plant would be launched as soon as the Investment Board Nepal (IBN) approves the proposal related to it. 

“Our aim is to run a fertiliser plant utilising the electricity and water resources abundantly available in Nepal,” said Chen, adding that China has always supported the socio-economic development of Nepal.

Nepali farmers face a shortage of chemical fertilisers during the peak farming season every year because of poor supply & distribution mechanism and policy failure, apart from other global factors. 

Though the government has always failed to secure enough fertilisers required for cultivation, the budget for the current fiscal year has cut the amount allocated for the purchase of chemical fertilisers to Rs 27.95 billion from Rs 30 billion in the previous fiscal year.

Lack of fertiliser availability pushes farmers to buy the smuggled fertilisers which are more expensive.

In 2022, Nepal signed the government-to-government agreement to import the chemical fertiliser from India for five years, which is estimated to cover around 30% annual requirement of the country.

China is the world's largest producer of urea and accounts for about a third of global supplies of the nitrogen-based fertiliser, Reuters reported in September last year.

Besides the fertiliser plant, the ambassador informed that a team of Chinese technicians were in Nepal to conduct a feasibility study for the Nepal-China cross-border transmission line. 

The Chinese ambassador laid emphasis on developing tourism infrastructure to attract more Chinese tourists. “China is ready to transfer technology,” he said.

Ambassador Chen, however, claimed that the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) implementation document was not signed with Nepal in lack of completion of some technical activities, adding that the BRI agreement between Nepal and China would be signed within a few months.  (With inputs from RSS)