Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) in coordination with Nepal Police organised the groundbreaking ceremony of the Cyber Bureau building being supported by the Korean government, on Wednesday.

The Korean Ambassador to Nepal Tae-Young Park and Inspector General of Police (IGP) Basanta Bahadur Kunwar jointly conducted the groundbreaking ceremony at Samakhushi.

The state-of-the-art Nepal Police Cyber Bureau building is being constructed under the project ‘Establishment of Cyber Bureau with Capacity Building for Nepal Police’.

Along with the building, KOICA shall provide equipment related to cyber-crime investigation and digital forensic lab and capacity building of relevant human resources of Nepal Police that shall strengthen the anti-cyber-crime capabilities of Nepal Police.

The total project budget is $8 million and the project shall be completed by 2026. The Cyber Bureau building will be completed by February 2025.

Similarly, at another event, KOICA and the Ministry of Federal Affairs and General Administration signed the Record of Discussion for the project “Green Job Creation through Recycling and Upcycling Project in Pokhara Metropolitan City”.

The Record of Discussion was signed by Mooheon Kong, Country Director of KOICA Nepal Office and Kamal Prasad Bhattarai, Joint Secretary of the Ministry of Federal Affairs and General Administration.

The Korean Government through KOICA has allocated $9.8 Million for this project. The main goal of this project is to promote sustainable recycling and upcycling enterprises contributing to the green economy. The project shall establish a Green Venture Zone at the heart of Pokhara and provide business incubation support to new and existing Recycle Upcycle enterprises.

The project aims to establish more than 30 Recycle Upcycle enterprises and create thousands of green jobs in Pokhara.

The project activities will lead to massive behavioural change at the community level, where people will adopt waste segregation at the household level, the KOICA said in a press statement. This will reduce the burden of Pokhara’s waste dumping site.

The Korean government’s aid through KOICA has been increasing continuously in Nepal in recent years as Nepal is one of the priority countries for KOICA.

Over the years, KOICA’s aid budget has not only been increasing in Nepal but also the sectors have expanded. In recent years, KOICA has focused on rural development, the agriculture sector and the environmental sector.