The Cabinet also directed the Investment Board Nepal to sign the PDA deal with India’s GMR-ITD Consortium. An IBN board meeting chaired by Prime Minister Sushil Koirala had endorsed the PDA on Wednesday.

With IBN Board asking the IBN to make some amendments, the Board forwarded the revised PDA to the Cabinet for final endorsement on Thursday afternoon.

The PTA was signed by the secretaries of the two countries in New Delhi on September 5. Titled ‘Electric Power Trade, Cross-Border Transmission Interconnection and Grid Connectivity’, the document will open new avenues to the country’s energy sector with the neighbouring nations enabled to trade energy. As per the Cabinet decision, Energy Secretary Rajendra Kishore Kshatri and IBN Chief Executive Officer Radhesh Pant have been authorised to sign the PTA and PDA documents, respectively, on behalf of the government.