Kathmandu, Sept. 7 -- Adarsha Bhusal and his team at GarudX, a Nepali company focused on drone manufacturing, invested Rs1.2 million to build one of the first drones designed and assembled in Nepal. But instead of soaring, their project has stalled on the runway.

Every drone in Nepal requires a "remote ID," a unique number that verifies and identifies the aircraft. The problem is that Nepal's government has no system to test drones or issue these IDs. Without one, Bhusal's drone cannot legally fly.

"We've proven our designs work but there's no process to get them officially cleared for use," Bhusal said. "No testing zones, no labs for airworthiness. There's no way to register this drone as the first one."

To move forward, Bhusal and hi...