The proposed project will construct about 388 kilometers of rural roads to all-weather standard covering 16 priority rural development districts throughout the country. The project will also focus on improving institutional arrangements, business processes, and associated capacity building, particularly on road asset management and road safety. The proposed project will also play a catalytic role for the sustainable development of rural areas.
| Project Name | Rural Connectivity Improvement Project | ||||||||
| Project Number | 48218-003 | ||||||||
| Country | Nepal |
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| Project Status | Proposed | ||||||||
| Project Type / Modality of Assistance | Loan Technical Assistance |
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| Source of Funding / Amount |
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| Strategic Agendas | Environmentally sustainable growth Inclusive economic growth |
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| Drivers of Change | Governance and capacity development Private sector development |
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| Sector / Subsector | Agriculture, natural resources and rural development - Rural market infrastructure |
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| Gender Equity and Mainstreaming | Effective gender mainstreaming | ||||||||
| Description | The proposed project will construct about 388 kilometers of rural roads to all-weather standard covering 16 priority rural development districts throughout the country. The project will also focus on improving institutional arrangements, business processes, and associated capacity building, particularly on road asset management and road safety. The proposed project will also play a catalytic role for the sustainable development of rural areas. | ||||||||
| Project Rationale and Linkage to Country/Regional Strategy | In Nepal, the agriculture sector contributes 65-70% of employment and 35% of gross domestic product. Poverty however remains widespread in rural areas. The Government of Nepal signed the Agricultural Development Strategy (ADS) in 2015 recognizing that the agriculture sector was performing below its potential in providing food and fiber, materials for processing and manufacturing, and employment and income. The government recognized that dramatic changes in strategy were needed if the sector was to perform to its potential and raise the sectors long term annual growth rate from 3% to the government's goal of 5%. The ADS underscores access as one of the major constraints to the development of commercial agriculture value chains. Transport in many high-potential production areas is limited to basic tracks or undeveloped roads, resulting in high transport costs and losses of quality and quantity. Only 17% of the rural population in Nepal has access to all-weather roads, compared with 60% in India and 37% in Bangladesh. The proposed project will focus on improving rural roads to all-weather standards, serving the agriculture sector and the rural population to access to market, business opportunities and benefits especially along agricultural value chains which will be a key to poverty reduction in rural areas. |
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| Impact | Connectivity between rural communities and productive agricultural areas and socioeconomic centers in Nepal improved. | ||||||||
| Outcome | Transport efficiency on project roads increased. | ||||||||
| Outputs | Road conditions between the selected rural communities, productive agricultural areas, and socioeconomic centers improved. | ||||||||
| Geographical Location | |||||||||
| Safeguard Categories | |
|---|---|
| Environment | B |
| Involuntary Resettlement | C |
| Indigenous Peoples | C |
| Summary of Environmental and Social Aspects | |
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| Environmental Aspects | The environmental assessment will be conducted. The assessment seeks to manage and mitigate the environmental impacts in accordance to Safeguard Policy Statement (2009). |
| Involuntary Resettlement | A community participation framework (CPF) will be prepared to outline the voluntary land donation system adopted for the project. The executing agency will ensure (i) full consultation with landowners and any non-titled affected people on site selection; (ii) that voluntary donation does not severely affect the living standards of the affected persons, and is linked directly to benefits under the poverty alleviation schemes of the government; (iii) that any voluntary donation is confirmed through verbal and written record and verified by an independent party or legal authority; and (iv) that an adequate grievance mechanism is in place. |
| Indigenous Peoples | The proposed project does not envisage any differential impact on the scheduled tribe population compared with non-scheduled tribes; all people will benefit equally from the project. Within the CPF, a mitigation measures matrix will detail the actions that will address categories of impacts that may be caused by the proposed project. |
| Stakeholder Communication, Participation, and Consultation | |
| During Project Design | Potential beneficiaries are rural community residents, including farmers, women, and poor households; commercial service providers, transport providers, government workers such as health workers, teachers, and agriculture extension workers. Their opinion and suggestions related to the proposed project will be ascertained during community consultation. |
| During Project Implementation | |
| Business Opportunities | |
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| Consulting Services | Consultants will be recruited, as firms or individuals, to support the project implementation, capacity development, and preparing detailed project report for future pipeline, in accordance with ADB's Guidelines on the Use of Consultants (2013, as amended from time to time). |
| Procurement | Procurement of civil works and equipment will be carried out in accordance with ADB Procurement Guidelines (2015, as amended from time to time). |
| Responsible ADB Officer | Tai, Lee Ming |
| Responsible ADB Department | South Asia Department |
| Responsible ADB Division | Environment, Natural Resources & Agriculture Division, SARD |
| Executing Agencies |
Dept of Local Infra Devt & Agri Roads * * Nepal Ministry of Federal Affairs and Local Development Singha Durbar Nepal |
| Timetable | |
|---|---|
| Concept Clearance | 24 Jul 2014 |
| Fact Finding | 06 Jul 2017 to 16 Jul 2017 |
| MRM | 11 Oct 2017 |
| Approval | - |
| Last Review Mission | - |
| Last PDS Update | 01 Aug 2017 |
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