The New Nation - Internet Edition

AFP, Kathmandu

China has started to build a rail link between Tibet and Nepal that could drastically reduce Kathmandu's trade reliance on its giant southern neighbour India, officials said Saturday.

Beijing is bringing the railway line from Lhasa-the capital of Chinese-controlled Tibet-to Khasa, a town along the Nepal-China border, Aditya Baral, the premier's foreign affairs adviser, told AFP.

"Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala was told by a visiting Chinese delegation during a meeting Friday the Chinese government has begun the railway extension project on its side to link with the Nepal-China border," Baral said.

The Chinese communist party delegation told Nepalese officials that the railway link would be ready in five years time, said Baral. The Nepal border town of Khasa lies some 80 kilometres (50 miles) north of the ancient capital Kathmandu.