The Nepalese government has issued a statement saying that no construction has been undertaken by the Chinese inside their territory.

The clarification comes days after reports were published in media outlets pointing out that the People's Liberation Army (PLA) of China has constructed at least nine buildings on the Nepal side of the Nepal-China border in the Lapcha-Limi area of Namkha rural municipality in Humla district of Karnali province.

The alleged encroachment came to light after Vishnu Bahadur Lama, the chairman of Namkha rural municipality, who had visited the area, spotted the buildings. Subsequently, he had apprised the Humla district authorities of the construction.

Later, a team of the local administration inspected the area from August 30 to September 9 and submitted a report to Nepal's ministry of home affairs.

In a statement released on Wednesday, Nepal's ministry of external affairs said that “the buildings alleged to have been constructed by China between Nepal-China boundary pillars 11 and 12 are not located within Nepalese territory and that area comes under the Chinese territory.” The statement added that this has been verified by official records, reports of joint field inspection and boundary maps.

The statement further said that “the matter of the buildings in question had surfaced in 2016 as well and it was then confirmed by an inter-ministerial team after field inspection that the buildings were situated one kilometre inside the Chinese territory from the Nepal-China border.”

However, the main opposition party of Nepal -Nepali Congress - has accused the government of “being in a hurry” to clarify the matter.

Bishwa Prakash Sharma, spokesperson of Nepali Congress, said, “The government should not have made any public statement over the issue when a team comprising chief district officer of the area and officials of Nepalese Army and Nepal police have not yet finished studying the situation. This statement does not look appropriate.”

Meanwhile, the Nepalese government has also claimed that it has located the border pillar 11, which had been missing for long.