Japan to Provide Additional Loan for Nagdhunga Tunnel Project

Kathmandu. The Japanese government will provide additional loan assistance for the construction of the Nagdhunga Tunnel Project. The Japanese government has decided to provide an additional loan equivalent to 5.70 billion Japanese Yen (approximately 5.50 billion Nepali Rupees) which is insufficient to complete the project.
Ambassador of Japan to Nepal, Maedea Toru, and Secretary of the Government of Nepal, Ghanashyam Upadhyay, signed a Memorandum of Understanding regarding this today. Previously, in December 2016, an agreement was made for a loan of 16.636 billion Yen for this project.

However, due to increased costs resulting from recent price hikes and other technical reasons, Japan has provided additional assistance due to budget shortages. With this, the total loan assistance from Japan for this project has reached 22.336 billion Yen, the embassy stated.

This tunnel, construction of which began in 2019, is preparing to be operational from this year. It is believed that once the tunnel is operational, vehicle movement in the Nagdhunga area will become much easier and it will greatly support the promotion of the local economy.