Kuwait, Nepal ink $17m loan agreement

A loan agreement was signed in Kathmandu on Monday between Nepal and the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development (KFAED), whereby the latter will make a loan amounting to KD 5 million (equivalent to about USD 17 million).
The loan will be used in the financing of the irrigation project in the country's Eastern and Central Regions.
The agreement was inked by Undersecretary of Nepal's Ministry of Finance Madhu Kumar Marasini and KFAED Deputy Director General Hamad Al-Omar, in the presence of KFAED Regional Manager for East South Asia and Pacific Countries Waleed Al-Bahar.
The project aims at contributing to the socio-economic development in the Central and Eastern Development Regions of Nepal and the country in general through rehabilitating and extending existing Farmer Managed Irrigation Systems (FMISs), said a statement by KFAED here on Monday.
The project aims also to secure adequate irrigation water, and henceforth, increase and sustain agricultural production for approximately 7,600 hectares of agricultural land, thus contributing towards poverty reduction for the project area inhabitants in addition to contributing to national food security, it noted.
The project comprises the civil engineering works required for improving the irrigation infrastructure of approximately 50 FMISs through rehabilitation and concrete lining of approximately 340 kilometers of irrigation canals; construction of approximately 2,050 weirs, intake structures and small hydraulic structures, in addition to all complementary work; improving the irrigation systems management, and improving the agricultural practices, it pointed out.
Moreover, the project includes institutional support and consultancy services, it said, adding the project is expected to be completed by the end of 2020.
It is the six loan offered by KFAED to Nepal as it has already made five loans with a total amount of KD16.4 million (equivalent to about USD 55.76 million) to finance four projects in power and irrigation sectors.
The KFAED also provided two technical grants to Nepal totaling about KD 275,000 (equivalent to about USD 935,000) to prepare technical and economic feasibility studies for two projects in transport and agriculture sectors.