ADB loan for Nepal

The Asian Development Bank is providing a new loan of $50m to Nepal for rural power projects.

The authorities in Nepal say the loan will be used to fund roughly half the costs of a hydro-electric project to provide power to a number of villages across the country.

The rest of the money will come from the Nepalese government and the OPEC fund for international development.

The project, which is expected to be completed in five years, will provide electricity to nearly a fifth of Nepal's population.

Most people in Nepal do not have electricity at present, because of a lack of funds and technology to develop power projects.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service