Nano One has received commitment from the Canadian Government for financial assistance through the Automotive Supplier Innovation Programme (ASIP), to develop cutting-edge electric vehicle battery technology.

Nano One is a producer of energy storage materials for batteries, and advanced nano-structured composite materials based in Canada.

The $1.4m investment will allow the company to develop new technology in its pilot plant to reduce the cost of the energy storage materials used in electric vehicle batteries.

"The $1.4m investment will allow the company to develop new technology in its pilot plant to reduce the cost of the energy storage materials used in electric vehicle batteries."

The investment will also enable Nano One to demonstrate its patented processing technology.

Asian Development Bank (ADB) has authorised a loan of $186.80m to upgrade 160km of strategic road network in Nepal.

The project involves the improvement of a 115km-long stretch between Narayanghat and Butwal on the strategic East-West highway and a 45km-long key feeder road between Bhairahawa and Taulihawa.

The new road segments will offer service lanes, walkways and pedestrian crossings, as well as accident emergency response systems at vital locations.

The road improvement project is estimated to cost $256.50m, of which the Nepal government is funding $69.70m. The project will benefit 673,000 people in the Terai area, when operational in 2022.

Asian Development Bank (ADB) has also sanctioned a loan of $198m for the upgradation and widening of the 77km-long Karshi-Shakhrisabz-Kitab highway in Uzbekistan.

The project will transform two existing road sections between Karshi, Shakhrisabz and Kitab into four-lane concrete roadways.

Karshi-Kitab road currently handles more than 9,000 vehicles a day, which will be increased to an average daily traffic of 14,000 vehicles by 2022 through the upgrade.

Scheduled for completion by the end of 2021, the project is estimated to cost $266.2m, of which $68.2m will be contributed by the Government of Uzbekistan.