Mr Sushilkumar Shinde, union power minister, has recently informed the lower house of India Parliament that India and Nepal, under the 1996 Mahakali Treaty, have agreed to jointly develop the 5600MW Pancheshwar multipurpose project on the Mahakali river and are engaged in finalizing the detailed project report of the project. Mr Shinde added that a joint project office has been established in Nepal with Indian assistance to carry out field investigations for preparation of the detailed project report for 3300MW Sun Kosi Sapta Kosi project and preliminary discussions have also been held on the feasibility of the Naumure hydroelectric project.