China provides RMB 180 million grant for acquisition of Harbin Y-12E and MA60 aircrafts (Linked to Project #34441)

On November 28, 2013, Nepal signed an economic and technical cooperation agreement (ETCA) with China to procure and purchase six China-made airplanes. According to the deal, Nepal agreed to acquire two aircrafts — a 19-seater Harbin Y-12E and a 58-seater Modern Ark 60 (MA60) — with an RMB 180 million (about Rs 2.98 billion) Chinese Government grant (project #34442) and to acquire three Harbin Y12E and a MA60 with a RMB 218.8 million China Eximbank concessional loan (project #34441). The Chinese Government grant is equal to about Rs 2.98 billion or $27,900,000 On April 28, 2014, the delivery ceremony of the Chinese MA60 aircraft was held in Kathmandu. Chairman of AVIC International [中国航空技术国际控股有限公司] Wu Guangquan [吴光权], and Nepal Airlines General Manager Karel [卡雷尔] signed the MA60 aircraft technical transfer documents [新舟60飞机技术移交文件]. Then, in November 2014, Harbin Aircraft Manufacturing Corporation (now called the Harbin Aircraft Industry Group Co. Ltd.) officially handed over the first of the Y12-Es, 9N-AKS, to NAC at a ceremony held in Kathmandu. According to a 2018 report from the Government of Nepal’s Auditor General, these aircrafts were operating domestic flights, but the NAC was incurring financial losses from the operation of the aircrafts. In 2019, the International Relations Committee of the Federal House of Representatives issued a directive to the Government of Nepal to sell the loss-making aircrafts.

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