Kathmandu, May 7 (AHN) Construction of a health post in Bijayanagar Rural Municipality of Kapilvastu district in Nepal’s Lumbini Province has commenced with grant assistance from the Government of India, the Indian Embassy said on Thursday.

Gopal Bahadur Thapa Magar, Chairman of the rural municipality, and Garima Nautiyal, Second Secretary at the Indian Embassy in Kathmandu, jointly laid the foundation stone for the construction of the health facility.

The health post is being constructed with financial assistance of approximately NPR 17.5 million from the Government of India under the High Impact Community Development Project (HICDP) scheme. The rural municipality will implement the project.

Local representatives and stakeholders welcomed India’s developmental support and expressed confidence that the new health facility would improve access to healthcare services for residents of Bijayanagar Rural Municipality.

“India and Nepal have long maintained cooperation across multiple sectors, including infrastructure, health, education, and community development,” the embassy said. “The implementation of HICDPs reflects India’s continued support for Nepal’s development efforts and the strengthening of infrastructure in priority sectors.”

The HICDP programme has emerged as a key pillar of the India-Nepal development partnership, supporting grassroots development initiatives across Nepal.

Launched in 2003, HICDPs were previously known as Small Development Projects. The initiative supports small-scale infrastructure and community-based projects across Nepal through local authorities, focusing on priority sectors identified by the Government of Nepal, including health, education, drinking water, sanitation and drainage, rural electrification, hydropower, and river training works.

In a significant boost to the initiative, a new agreement reached in January 2024 increased the ceiling of Indian financial assistance to NPR 20 million per project from the earlier limit of NPR 5 million.