Nepal Infrastructure 
KATHMANDU: The Government of Nepal and the Government of Japan signed two separate agreements for utilizing grant assistance of around Rs 2 billion for the implementation of the Improvement of the Rehabilitation of Irrigation System Project in the Eastern Terai and the concessional credit worth around Rs 14.2 billion for the Urban Transmission and Distribution System Improvement Project.
The grant assistance will be used for the maintenance and improvement of the Chandra Nahar irrigation system for reliable and continuous irrigation facilities, mainly in the Eastern Terai region. Similarly, the concessional credit will be utilized for improving the urban electricity transmission system in the big cities of Nepal, including Kathmandu and Pokhara with the aim of reducing transmission losses as well as increasing the reliability of electricity distribution. The credit assistance applies an interest rate of 0.01 percent per annum for 30- a year repayment period and a 10-year grace period.
Finance Secretary Krishna Hari Puskar and Kikuta Yutaka, Ambassador of Japan to Nepal signed and exchanged the Notes and Records of Discussion on behalf of their respective governments. Similarly, grant and credit agreements to this effect were signed by Ishwori Prasad Aryal, Joint Secretary, the International Economic Cooperation and Coordination Division of the Ministry of Finance, and Okubo Akimitsu, Chief Representative of JICA Nepal.
Speaking on the occasion, Finance Secretary Pushkar outlined that the implementation of these two projects would be crucial for improving irrigation facilities in Nepal, increasing the reliability of electricity supply, and reducing transmission losses.
