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| Construction of the Arun River Bridge at Leguwaghat, Sabha Khola Bridge at Sankhuwasabha District | ||||||
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The road links constructed
by RAP1 and to be extended by RAP2 are constrained by river crossings
at the Arun River leading to Bhojpur and Khotang and at the Sabha
Khola leading to Sankhuwasabha, Khandbari. The Government of Nepal
had planned both these bridges for some time. The logic to the DFID
funding is that the Arun River Bridge especially is the gateway to
some 162 kilometres of roads built under RAP1 and 120 kilometres of
road being built by RAP2.
The Sabha Khola Bridge is vital for the Sankhuwasabha District and the Arun III hydroelectric project now being resurrected under a PFI with an Indian Company, but only 6 kilometres of RAP1 roads are in the hinterland. The whole road corridor into the Koshi Hill, including the Arun Valley, has been the focus of UK investment for over 30 years now, so there is also the overriding need to build on the earlier investment. Therefore the bridges are required to maximise the rate of return of the investments of RAP1 and RAP2 as well as to enable Nepal to address its current capacity shortfall in electric power generation. In July 2008 the GoN approached DFID for funding for the construction of two bridges that are to be constructed under this project and it was subsequently agreed that they would take over the construction of the two bridges under some GBP 4.5 millions of grant aid.
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