WB to Provide $100m Grant for Road Project

The World Bank (WB) has agreed to provide a grant worth more than US$ 100 million (approximately Rs. 7 billion) to the government of Nepal for blacktopping of roads connecting remote districts of the country's far western and mid-western regions.

According to an official at the Ministry of Physical Planning and Works (MPPW), the government had asked the WB for US$ 175 million.

The WB's support comes soon after the completion of the first phase of the Karnali Highway Blacktopping programme launched by the government last year.

MPPW joint secretary Tulasi Prasad Sitaula said the WB's grant would be spent on blacktopping a 105-km stretch of the Karnali Highway. The money will also be used to blacktop the road joining the lower section of the Dungeshwor-Siyakot-Dailekh road located below the Surkhet-Jumla road, he added.

Out of the Rs. 7 billion grant assistance, more than Rs. 1 billion will be used for blacktopping sections of the Karnali Highway and the rest will be spent on blacktopping roads joining the headquarters of districts like Jajarkot, Darchula, Bajhang, Myagdi and Jomsom, said Sitaula.

"The government and WB officials are holding talks to decide the amount of the grant while the WB has already agreed to provide around Rs. 7 billion," he said. "All the road works will be completed within the next four years," he added.

The WB has already provided a grant of US$ 40.2 million for the ongoing project of blacktopping the 127-km Surkhet-Khitkijhula section of the Karnali Highway in Kalikot district.

"This road joining Surkhet and Khitkijhula will be completely blacktopped within this fiscal year," said Sitaula.

It costs Rs. 10 million to blacktop one kilometre of the Karnali Highway, which is termed expensive compared to other roads in the country.

Meanwhile, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) is supporting the construction of blacktopped roads in the country's eastern and central districts including Taplejung, Nuwakot, Ramechhap and Rasuwa under its Road Connectivity Sector programme, the MPPW stated. Likewise, the ADB is funding the blacktopping of a road joining Bhairahawa and Taulihawa in Kapilvastu district.

Only four district roads in Khotang, Sankhuwasabha, Okhaldhunga and Myagdi will remain to be blacktopped after the programmes supported by the WB and the ADB are completed. Similarly, the roads joining the district headquarters of Manang, Bajura, Dolpa, Mugu, Humla and Solu will be the only ones remaining to be blacktopped.