The World Bank (WB) has agreed to provide a grant worth more than US$100 million to the government of Nepal for blacktopping of roads connecting remote districts of the country's far western and mid-western regions.

According to an official at the Ministry of Physical Planning and Works (MPPW), the government had asked the WB for US$175 million.

According to Friday's The Kathmandu Post, the WB's support comes soon after the completion of the first phase of the Karnali Highway Blacktopping program launched by the government last year.

MPPW joint secretary Tulasi Prasad Sitaula was quoted by the daily as saying the WB's grant would be spent on blacktopping a 105-km stretch of the Karnali Highway.

The WB has already provided a grant of US$40.2 million for the ongoing project of blacktopping the 127-km Surkhet- Khitkijhula section of the Karnali Highway in Kalikot district.

Meanwhile, the Asian Development Bank is supporting the construction of blacktopped roads in the country's eastern and central districts, the MPPW stated.

Likewise, the ADB is funding the blacktopping of a road joining Bhairahawa and Taulihawa in Kapilvastu district.

(Xinhua News Agency October 23, 2009)