The Japanese government will provide Bangladesh with grant assistance of Tk 40 crore for a project to install portable steel bridges in rural areas.

An exchange of notes to this effect was signed yesterday between Bangladesh and Japan, said a Japanese embassy press release.

Matsushiro Horiguchi, Japanese ambassador to Bangladesh, and Md Ismail Zabihullah, secretary of Economic Relations Division of Bangladesh, signed the exchange of notes on behalf of their governments.

Under the project, 92 dilapidated bridges will be improved in the rural areas of 17 districts in Bangladesh. The project will also install portable steel bridges at different locations of major rural roads of the districts. Since 1994, Japan has supplied 230 portable steel bridges to Bangladesh.