Govt to accept WB loan

KATHMANDU, Aug 9:

A meeting of the Council of Ministers held on Thursday has decided to accept a loan of US$ 37 million (approximately Rs. 3.52 billion) and a grant of US$ 2 million to be received from the International Development Agency of the World Bank Group for additional investment for the construction of Nepal-India Electricity Transmission Line and Trade Project.

The meeting also provided all rights to the Ministry of Finance to sign the agreement regarding this project, said Spokesperson of the Government and Minister for Information and Communications, Madhav Paudel.

The government would provide the loans to the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) as loan while the government would invest the grant amount as the share in the NEA.
Similarly, the meeting decided to form a team of Nepali delegates to hold talks with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) regarding the grant assistance of 21 million US Dollars (approximately Rs. 2.04 billion) to be received from the Bank for preparations of the Energy Sector Projects.

The government has also decided to provide around 79.27 hectares of land in forest area to the Upper Trishuli ´A´ Hydropower Project and 94 ropanies and 14 annas of land to Hewa Khola Hydropower project on condition of abiding by various rules for 35 years to each.

Source: Republica