A loan agreement was signed between the Government of Nepal and the Government of Japan for the improvement of the Koteshwar Crossing project in the presence of Finance Minister Rameshwar Prasad Khan.
34.59 billion Japanese Yen (approx. 31.76 billion) equal to the debt of the project. The grace period of the loan will be 10 years, the payment period will be 30 years, and the annual interest rate will be 0.2 percent.
As part of this project, an underpass and a flyover will be built in the Koteshwar and Jadibuti sections, which are expected to make a significant contribution to ease the movement of vehicles and reduce traffic jams through Kathmandu, Lalitpur, Bhaktapur and across the highway. The planning of the physical infrastructure and the Ministry of Transport will be implemented through the road department.
In the exchange of notes related to loan assistance, Finance Secretary Dr. Ghanshyam Upadhyay and Japanese Ambassador Maeda Toru have signed. Similarly, in the loan agreement, the chief joint secretary of the International Economic Relations Division of the Ministry of Finance. Dhaniram Sharma and JICA Nepal chief representative Mitsuzaki Mazuki signed.
The ceremony started with the joint secretary Dr. Dhaniram Sharma’s speech. After the signing, JICA Nepal’s Chief Representative Mitsuzaki Mazuki, Ambassador Maeda Toru and Finance Minister Rameshwar Prasad Khanal addressed and expressed their commitment to advance bilateral cooperation more effectively. The Japanese government expressed its belief that the improvement of Koteshwar Crossing planning will be implemented through the cooperation of Japan’s concessional debt, and also recalled the decades of friendly relations between Nepal and Japan.
In his speech, Minister of Finance Khanal expressed his belief that this project, which was developed in order to make progress in the improvement of the important jam-packed place of Kathmandu Valley under Nepal-Japan cooperation, will bring long-term changes in the capital’s traffic management.
The program was attended by senior officials from the Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport, Department of Roads, Japanese Embassy and JICA Nepal.
