ADB approves more than $285 million loan, grant to Nepal

Manila (The Uttam Hindu): The Asian Development Bank (ADB) on Thursday said it has approved more than $285 million in financing for two projects to make Nepal greener and help it address climate change risks and geophysical events. "Nepal's path to sustainable development faces challenges from a combination of climate-induced and geophysical hazards, along with high exposure and vulnerability of communities, infrastructure, and systems," said ADB Country Director for Nepal Arnaud Cauchois. The ADB said in its press release that it is providing 100 million dollars toward subprogram 1 of the Green, Resilient, and Inclusive Development (GRID) Program through a policy-based loan. The loan supports the government's GRID approach, a novel homegrown process to development planning and implementation that holistically addresses a set of overlapping and reinforcing crises, reports Xinhua news agency.

The ADB will also provide a concessional loan of $170 million and a grant of $15 million from the Asian Development Fund, which provides grants to ADB's poorest and most vulnerable developing members. In addition, the ADB is providing a technical assistance grant of $1.75 million from the Technical Assistance Special Fund for the investment project to strengthen the capacity of the water supply operator and the asset owner by modernising their information technology systems, standard operating procedures for water utility operations, institutionalising equitable service delivery models and designing a targeted communication strategy.