Strengthening the national rural transport program (SNRTP).Nepal Project Development Objective The overall project development objective is to enhance the availability and reliability of transport connectivity for rural communities in the 3 additional highly earthquake affected districts with 33 SNRTP participating districts. SNRTP – Project Components Component A (institutional strengthening and technical assistance): Component A of SNRTP will fund three categories of activities, including: ¿ Institutional strengthening and technical assistance; ¿ Third party monitoring of physical works under Component B of the project; and ¿ An impact study of selected project interventions. Target districts will receive technical assistance from Component A for: ¿ Updating District Transport Master Plans (DTMPs) and Multi-Year Rolling Maintenance Plans (MYRMP); There will be an opportunity for any district in Nepal to receive limited support from Component A in the following specific areas: (i) assistance to develop or update District Transport Master Plans (DTMPs); and (ii) introduction and operationalization of length-person or similar schemes to undertake routine maintenance on rural roads and bridges. 1.4.2 Component B (Civil Works): Component B will support districts to implement physical works needed for (i) upgrading or rehabilitating rural transport infrastructure; and (ii) maintaining rural transport infrastructure. There will be two funding windows within component B as follows: Window 1 will support routine and periodic maintenance of roads and crossing structures using a simplified output-based disbursement approach that ties a portion of payments to the completion of works. Window 1 will support maintenance of all season roads and crossing structures. Access to these funds will depend on a district’s ability to: ¿ Pass the Minimum Conditions; and ¿ Satisfy a basic set of project-specific criteria. Window 1 funding will disburse on the basis of verified physical outputs achieved. This will require compliance with all safeguards and procurement guidelines. SNRTP districts will co-fund a portion of maintenance costs from their own financial resources to complement Window 1 funding. Within Window 1, SNRTP will support districts to operationalize group-based routine length person schemes for routine maintenance with support from the International Labor Organization (ILO). Window 2 will support road upgrading and or rehabilitation) and new crossing structure construction as needed to provide all-weather connectivity. Roads upgrading and new crossing structure construction under Window 2 must be complementary such that access along the integrated road linkage becomes possible year-round. Investments in road upgrading and new crossing structures may occur in parallel. However, Window 2 will not support upgrading for road linkages without supporting crossing structures. Similarly, districts will not receive Window 2 funds for developing new crossing structures on roads that only provide seasonal access. Component C (Market Infrastructure): Component C will fund investments in market related infrastructure along roads that offer all season connectivity to project districts. A key aim of Component C will be to pilot an approach for linking infrastructure investments in rural transport infrastructure with infrastructure investments in locations that provide economic opportunity.