Nepal seeks Rs 2.5b Korean aid for infrastructure

Published in The Kathmandu Post

BY THIRA L BHUSAL
KATHMANDU, Dec 11

The government has recently forwarded a proposal to Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) requesting it to provide support to Nepal in development of rural roads, community (motorable) bridges for rural roads, and drinking water supply projects.
The Department of Local Infrastructure Development and Agricultural Roads (DoLIDAR) under the Ministry of Local Development prepared the proposal with a budget of around 2.5 billion rupees, according to DoLIDAR.
Last week, DoLIDAR sent the proposal after KOICA corresponded to the government of Nepal showed interest to provide help in education, health, rural development, and environment sector in Nepal. KOICA implements grant aid and technical cooperation program of the Government of Republic of Korea under its Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MOFAT).
In the proposal, DoLIDAR has requested around 530 million rupees grant aid for development of 35 under-construction small water supply projects that have been left in a lurch due to lack of budget.
Around 700 small, under-construction, water supply projects, undertaken by district development committees (DDCs) in the country are facing serious crisis due to lack of budget, according to DoLIDAR. A DoLIDAR study shows an additional four billion rupees is required to complete all of these projects, but budgetary allocation is usually around Rs 400 to 500 million each year.
Likewise, DoLIDAR has requested KOICA to provide 1.64 billion rupees to upgrade 13 fair-weather roads into all-weather roads in different districts, according to Jeevan Kumar Shrestha, Chief of the Planning and Donor Coordination Section at DoLIDAR.
Similarly, DoLIDAR has sought around 346 million rupees from KOICA to build 94 motorable bridges especially on rural roads.
According to government estimate, over 22,000 kilometers of rural roads have been constructed across the country so far. But, hardly 8,000 to 10,000 kilometers of the same are operational, Shrestha told the Post.
Rest of the sections of the roads are either damaged, too narrow, or without bridges, according to him. "If KOICA provides the money, we will spend it on upgrading such rural roads," he added.
KOICA may or may not approve the proposal, according to Shrestha. "Or, it may accept it in part and may decline support in certain sectors requested in our proposals," he clarified.
KOICA has currently been supporting with US$ 1.16 million the Korea-Nepal Friendship Hospital Construction Project in Thimi and another US$ 3.5 million project for establishing Government Integrated Data Center.

Posted on: 2007-12-11 20:36:09 (Server Time) on ekantipur.com