KATHMANDU: The World Bank, acting as administrator of the Global Road Safety Phase 2 Multi-Donor Trust Fund, has agreed to provide USD 7.47 million (Rs 763.80 million) grant assistance to Nepal for the implementation of the road safety support project.

An agreement to this effect was signed on Tuesday at the Ministry of Finance.

The agreement was signed by Joint Secretary at the Ministry of Finance Madhu Kumar Marasini, on behalf the government of Nepal, and Takuya Kamata, Country Manager of the World Bank, on behalf of the Bank.

The Project aims to introduce and amend relevant transport related acts, rules and regulations in Nepal. It will also support to operate the Nepal Road Safety Council and Secretariat, the Ministry of Finance stated in a press release today.

The Project will support two pilot initiatives which will cover urban roads in Pokhara and in the Siddhartha Highway.

Approximately 70,000 metres of crash barriers will be installed at high-risk road sections in the Mid-western and the Far-Western regions.

The other components of the Project include provision of state-of-the-art training on road safety for professionals, academics and government officials in order to develop local road safety related capacity, bachelor and master level road safety courses curricula development for universities/institutes in Nepal and development of road safety database system.

The Project will be implemented by the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport and the Department of Roads and is scheduled to be closed on July 15, 2016, the press release states.

The government of Nepal has expressed sincere appreciation to the World Bank for this assistance and for its continued support in the socio-economic development of Nepal.