NEW DELHI: Nepal finance minister Swarnim Wagle will in New Delhi for a two-day visit from Thursday for talks on post-flood reconstruction and wider economic cooperation as Kathmandu looks to India for support after the Aug 26 disaster devastated hydropower projects, roads, bridges and settlements and left the country facing a rebuilding bill of up to $5 billion. The visit will be the first high-level trip from Nepal to India since the floods.Wagle is expected to meet finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman, external affairs minister S Jaishankar and commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal during the visit. He will also address an industry gathering and deliver a lecture at Delhi School of Economics.The disaster’s confirmed toll has reached 1,429 dead and more than 5,649 missing across Nepal and Tibet — 1,386 dead and more than 5,130 missing in Nepal, and 43 dead and 519 missing in Tibet. Wagle has estimated that Nepal may need as much as $5 billion for rebuilding and rehabilitation. “We will require much less than what we needed for the 2015 earthquake. Loss and damage is being assessed,” he said.He has also said govt has enough resources for immediate rescue and relief but will need substantial outside support for reconstruction. “The next phase will focus on early recovery, including temporary shelters and cash-for-work programmes,” Wagle said. “This will be followed by the daunting task of reconstruction.”India has already emerged as one of Nepal’s key partners in the immediate response, sending nearly 50 tonnes of relief material, including medicines, temporary shelters, blankets, hygiene kits and solar lamps, while Indian teams also joined specialised rescue efforts in flood-hit areas. New Delhi later approved export of up to 654MW of electricity for 18 hours a day until Dec 31 after damage to Nepal’s hydropower network forced Kathmandu to halt power exports and turn to imports.
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India has also begun supplying Bailey bridges to restore road connectivity severed by the floods, with components for the first 70-metre bridge reaching Nepal for deployment in the Betrawati area. India has provided three such bridges and pledged more as Nepal works to reconnect settlements cut off after floods washed away or damaged dozens of road and pedestrian crossings in Rasuwa and Nuwakot.
