The package is a blend of credit and grants from the International Development Association (IDA), the World Bank´s concessionary lending arm, and has been approved for Urban Governance and Development Program (UGDP) and Kabeli Transmission Project (KTP).[break]
Financing for the UGDP: Emerging Towns Project comprise US$ 13.75 million in IDA credit and US$ 11.25 million in IDA grant, while financing for the KTP comprise US$ 27.4 million in IDA credit and US$ 10.6 million in IDA grant, reads a statement.
The finances pledged for UGDP: Emerging Town Project will be used for the construction and rehabilitation of socio-economic infrastructure in six municipalities - Mechinagar, Dhankuta, Itahari, Lekhnath, Baglung and Tansen - where people are migrating in a large number in search of peace, economic opportunities and social wellbeing.
Under the Project, transparent rules will be developed and municipal grants will be provided to top up existing fiscal transfers to in order to achieve immediate service delivery improvements and support community development initiatives.
The WB has said that the project will also introduce a rational and transparent system for capital financing of urban infrastructure, embedded within the overall intergovernmental fiscal framework.
The assistance under the KTP, on the other hand, will be used to construct a 132 KV transmission line that will extend from Kabeli Bazaar in the north of Panchthar district to Damak in Jhapa district.
Under it, substations will also be built in the vicinity of Kabeli Bazaar and at the towns of Phidim, Ilam and Damak.
“Together these two new projects intend to maximize the benefits of urbanization and revive economic activity by removing barriers to growth, particularly the severe under-supply of electricity,”
“Nepalis are moving in unprecedented numbers from remote villages to small towns and larger cities in search of peace, economic opportunities and social wellbeing,” the statement quotes Susan Goldmark, World Bank Country Director for Nepal, as saying.
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