The Kuwaiti Fund has approved a soft loan worth US$ 30 million to construct the 30 MW Budhi Ganga hydropower project located in western Nepal. “We have just received the approval letter for the loan from the Kuwaiti Fund,” a senior Finance Ministry official said. Nepal had made formal request to the Kuwaiti authorities for a loan during the then Finance Minister Barsaman Pun’s recent visit to Kuwait. The estimated cost of the project is Rs 4 billion. “A formal process to accept the Kuwaiti assistance is underway. We need the cabinet’s go-ahead before announcing the assistance,” said the official. A high-level Kuwaiti team led by Mohammad Ahmad Al-Mujrin Al-Roomi, director of the Asia Department at the Kuwaiti Foreign Ministry, arrived in Kathmandu on Thursday to discuss bilateral issues. “The Kuwaiti side is likely to announce the soft loan pledged to construct the Budhi Ganga project after meeting with senior government officials on Friday,” added the official. The Kuwaiti team will hold talks with senior Foreign and Finance ministry officials about the prospects of extending cooperation in tourism, agriculture and other areas of cooperation in Nepal. “We will request them to set up a residential embassy in Kathmandu,” said Arjun Bahadur Thapa, spokesperson of the Foreign Ministry. Other Gulf nations like Saudi Arabia and the UAE plan to open residential missions in Nepal soon. More than 600,000 Nepalis are currently working in Kuwait. A direct air service between the two countries is on the cards, considering the increasing traffic and the large community of Nepali workers in Kuwait. In January last year, Nepal and Kuwait signed an agreement to establish a joint commission at the level of foreign minister to cover the entire gamut of bilateral relations, and the current visit of Kuwaiti officials is related to the plan, said officials. The Kuwaiti Fund agreed last year to provide financial aid worth Rs 52 million to carry out a feasibility study of the proposed Sitapaila-Dharke road. After completing the economic and feasibility study of the 25-km road link that is seen as an alternative entry point into the Kathmandu valley, the government plans to ask Kuwait for assistance to build it, sources added.