KATHMANDU: Saudi Arabia has agreed to provide loan assistance of $30 million to help speed up Nepal’s reconstruction efforts.

This was agreed at meetings between the representatives of the Fund for Development of the Saudi government and officials of the National Reconstruction Authority (NRA).

At the meeting, the Saudi government officials requested NRA to propose the list of projects to be implemented during the reconstruction process. NRA Deputy Spokesperson Bhishma Kumar Bhusal said the authority has proposed to utilise the amount in the reconstruction of private houses, schools and health institutions and have already written to the Ministry of Finance to hold further negotiations and finalise the agreement.

Joint Secretaries Yam Lal Bhoosal and Krishna Dawadi and Undersecretaries Bhusal and Binu Bajracharya Kunwar took part in the meetings on behalf of NRA while those representing the Saudi government were chief engineer Abdullah M Al-Shoabi, regional manager of the operation department of the Fund for Development; Nassir AlKasabi, project manager; and Saeed AlMshaikhi, senior specialist.