March 1: The World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors on Thursday approved US$200 million in new financing for two projects in Nepal to support the country’s transition toward Green, Resilient, and Inclusive Development (GRID) and help improve the development and maintenance of Nepal’s provincial and local road network.

Issuing a statement on Thursday, the World Bank’s Country Director for Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka Faris Hadad-Zervos said that the World Bank is committed to supporting Nepal’s green, resilient, and inclusive development.

“Through the new projects financed by the World Bank’s International Development Association (IDA), we continue to focus our assistance on improving people’s lives including through infrastructure and services,” said Zervos.

According to the World Bank, the US$100 million Second Fiscal Policy for Growth, Recovery and Resilience Development Policy Credit aims to strengthen revenue collection, reduce fragmentation of debt management, and increase debt transparency. It also supports reforms to enhance climate-resilient infrastructure spending, lower Nepal’s minimum foreign direct investment (FDI) threshold to promote FDI inflows and facilitate automation to streamline the process of FDI.

“This operation will help strengthen the regulatory and institutional framework to support sustainable business growth, and enhance systems to protect the most vulnerable in Nepal” the statement quoted Sibel Kulaksiz, the World Bank’s Task Team leader for the program, as saying.

Similarly, the US$100 million credit for the Provincial and Local Roads Improvement Program will support the implementation of a comprehensive program for the development and maintenance of Nepal’s provincial and local road network, the World Bank added. It will help improve the efficiency of service delivery, strengthen the resilience of selected provincial roads and bridges, and ensure communities have safe access to markets and services.

This first of a three-phased series of programs will be implemented in Madhesh, Karnali, and Sudurpaschim provinces and local levels with the potential to scale up in the future, the statement further reads.

“The project will strengthen the institutional, management, and implementation capacity of the subnational governments over the long term to improve inclusive connectivity and promote efficiency through reduced travel time and costs,” said Reenu Aneja, senior transport specialist and Task Team leader.