a bilateral basis. Japan has been the largest donor country to Nepal. The single pillar bridge in Karnali, New Buspark, Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital (TUTH), Melamchi drinking water project, few hydro-power projects and highways like B.P. Koirala Highway and the Koteshwor-Suryabinayak extended road (12 km) were built with assistance from Japan. Grants from India helped to build the airport in Kathmandu, the Koshi Dam, Bir Hospital, Trauma Center, highways like Tribhuvan Highway, Siddhartha Highway and several irrigation projects. The Soviet Union helped to build cigarette and sugar factories, a hydroelectric plant, and part of the East-West Highway (Nepal). Grants from China helped to construct roads; a trolley bus line in Kathmandu; BICC, Rastriya Sabha Griha, Civil Hospital in New Baneshwor, Bharatpur Cancer Hospital in Chitwan and leather, shoe, brick and tile factories. United States grants supported village development, agriculture, education, and public health. The United States also helped to build the Balaju Industrial Area and start the Nepal Industrial Development Corporation, which granted loans to several industries. Beginning in the 1960s, some bilateral assistance was in the form of loans. The loan share of foreign aid increased from under 4 percent between 1965 and 1970 to more than 25 percent by the 1985-88 period. In the 1970s, multilateral assistance programs started to play an important role in development planning and accounted for more than 70 percent of funding for development planning. By the end of the 1980s, the great majority of foreign aid was in the form of multilateral assistance programs. The major sources of borrowing or grants for these programs were the International Development Association of the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank. Most of these loans could be characterized as soft loans. Sources of foreign aid were numerous. Eleven UN agencies, seven multilateral lending agencies (such as the World Bank), and eight private agencies (for example, the Ford Foundation) had participated in aid programs. At least seventeen countries offered bilateral assistance. Under the auspices of World Bank, the Nepal Aid Group was created in 1976. By 1987 sixteen countries and six international agencies participated in the group. The level of commitment from the Nepal Aid Group had increased from Rs1.5 billion in 1976-77 to Rs5.6 billion in 1987-88. The bulk of foreign aid contributions after 1976 came from this group. Most economic development projects were funded with external assistance on concessional terms. In the mid- to late