Section officer-led teams, comprising an engineer each, have been to all districts seriously affected by the April-25 quake and are collecting details of losses, but the forms they are filling do not include particulars of businesses.
Damage to businesses and enterprises are also directly connected to thousands of jobs.
Ghanaraj Pant, executive director of the Cottage and Small Industry Development Board, said that the forms being filled by the teams do not include any information on enterprises, small and cottage industries or even large industries.
The Department of Industry and the board had jointly published a public notice soon after the earthquake to assess quake-damage but the information coverage of the loss by both agencies was negligible by Monday and officials said they had not received any information from the private sector.
Industry secretary Jaya Mukunda Khanal said they had received very little information from the private sector of their losses.
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The National Planning Commission (NPC) has planned to prepare a preliminary draft of PDNA by Wednesday and a final report is to be made public during an international donor’s conference scheduled for June 10.
Pashupati Murarka, the acting president of the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI), said he only received the forms on Sunday and further said that he had been asked to submit them by Monday.
“There are varying degrees of damage -- from production loss to damage to machinery and physical infrastructures -- and this cannot be assessed instantly,” Murarka said, stressing that a proper assessments should be carried out.
Government officials have taken this as a sign of reluctance by the private sector as there has not been any policy announcement of support by the government for the recovery of businesses and industries.
Muraraka has flayed such assumptions as many entrepreneurs are yet to open their factories as laborers are yet to return as well.
Damages are not limited to the 14 affected districts and the assessments should be also carried in other districts as well as, he says.
Conservative estimates put the damage and production loss suffered by the private sector, including hydropower and tourism, at about Rs 100 billion in the least.
“The loss from shutting down of production should also be counted in assessments,” Murarka adds.
Aiming to collect such information in a hurry is over-expectation, Murarka says.
Asked why there is no proper space for assessment of the business and industry sector in PDNA, NPC member Chandra Mani Adhikari told Republica that line ministries are to report the damage.
The Confederation of Nepalese Industries (CNI) has already urged the government to set up a business recovery center after a proper assessment is made of the losses.
