Japan has agreed to provide Rs 372,421,000 to Nepal as grant assistance for the implementation of the Project for Construction of Primary Schools in Support of Education for All (Phase III).

Tsutomu Hiraoka

Tsutomu Hiraoka
(File Photo)
The agreement was signed today between Bhanu Prasad Acharya, Secretary, Ministry of Finance and the Japanese ambassador to Nepal, Tsutomu Hiraoka, the embassy of Japan said.

The grant will be utilized exclusively for the procurement of necessary materials for the construction of 375 classrooms, 21 resource centers and 80 toilet blocks. It will also be used for 34 water supply units and 12,530 sets of classroom furniture along with 21 sets of furniture for resource centers in Bara, Dadheldhura, Dhading, Makwanpur, Sindhuli, Kavrepalanchowk, Saptari, Syangja, and Gorkha Districts, the embassy said.

Speaking on the occasion, ambassador Hiraoka said the grant was the continuation of the aid given by Japan in Phase I and II of the project and added, “The overall goal of the Project is to contribute to the realization of the goal of ‘Education for All by 2015’ set out by His Majesty’s Government of Nepal.”

Phase I of the Project has been successfully implemented, while Phase II is still in progress, the embassy said.

The ambassador further said, “It is my utmost expectation that the grant extended today will be implemented smoothly and successfully despite the prevailing insurgency in the country.”