ADB to make additional investment in Siddharthanagar Municipality

Bhairahawa / Aug. 9: The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is going to make further investment in Siddharthanagar Municipality (Bhairahawa) of Rupandehi district. Earlier, it had invested in infrastructure development projects including roads and sewerage here. ADB is about to make reinvestment shortly after the conclusion of the previous plan.

With the investment from the ADB, 26.5 km of road will be constructed and paved.

The multilateral donor will provide 75 per cent of the total cost of the project which will be channeled to the city as the grant through the Ministry of Urban Development. Siddarthanagar Municipality will make 25 per cent investment in the project.

Nabaraj Paudyal, Chief Administrative Officer of the municipality, informed that the road construction and blacktopping would be done under the Urban Resilience Livelihood Improvement (URLI) project of the ADB at the initiative of the Siddharthnagar Municipality office.

According to him, more than 28 road segments including Bhimkali Path, Gallamandi’s Sugar Mill Road, Mayadevi Colony, Abhayadurga Path and Durga Colony would be constructed at an estimated cost of Rs. 1.35 billion.

Earlier, ADB’s ‘RUDP’ and ‘IUDP’ projects were completed in Siddharthnagar. During the implementation of the RUDP project, ADB also awarded the best project management award to Siddharthnagar for completing the work on time when the status of capital expenditure in the country was disappointing.

Paudyal said that bids would be invited for project operation before November this year. According to him, preparations are being made to complete the project ahead of time. ADB is going to operate the project in five municipalities – Siddharthanagar, Lumbini Cultural, Tilottama, Devdaha and Sainamaina in Rupandehi.

Naresh Giri, senior project officer of the ADB, said that the ADB project in Siddharthnagar Municipality would be completed efficiently, smoothly and on time.

Ishtiaq Ahmad Khan, Mayor of Siddharthanagar, said that the results of the work would be visible soon since development works are being implemented gradually.

According to Sakar Shrestha, project manager of the municipality, the road section to be constructed will have drains, footpaths, and street lights on both sides as needed, while the structures to be constructed will be child- and disabled-friendly.

In addition to the road, the municipal office has started the process to develop the Danda River as a corridor targeting the city dwellers and tourists. Shrestha said that a detailed master plan was being prepared for the project. ADB is also positive for developing the Danda River as a corridor.

It is said that the work of the Danda River would be completed in different stages at the estimated cost of Rs. 700 million for the first phase.

An embankment will be constructed for the protection of the Danda River and land, bicycle lane, pedestrian walkways, river boating, restaurants, meditation centres, and fun parks for children will be constructed at the site.