Nepal and India on Tuesday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the construction of a motorable bridge across the Mahakali River connecting Dharchula (India) with Darchula (Nepal), under Indian grant assistance.

The agreement was signed by the Secretary at the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport Rabindra Nath Shrestha and Ambassador of India Vinay Mohan Kwatra in the presence of Minister of Physical Infrastructure and Transport Renu Kumari Yadav. According to the Indian Embassy in Kathmandu, the bridge will enhance connectivity between the Sudurpaschim province of Nepal and the Uttarakhand state of India across the Mahakali river where close people-to-people links exist between communities on both sides of the border.

“This is in line with the priority shared by both the governments to expand cross-border connectivity for streamlining commercial, cultural and people-to-people exchanges,” the embassy said in a statement.

Construction will begin soon and the bridge will be ready in three years, according to Indian officials.

The agreement on the bridge was to be signed during a planned India visit by Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba. But the visit was canceled after Covid cases spiked in India.

India’s Minister for Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur had earlier said the MoU between India and Nepal would be signed in the “near future" and the bridge will be completed within three years.