The prime minister was under pressure to issue a stern directive to his cabinet colleague on Tuesday as the latter did not resolve the issue for over eights months and earned disrepute to the government in the eyes of the donors. [break]
“The prime minister has directed the ministry to seek an amicable solution to the problem by tomorrow [Wednesday],” said Rajan Bhattarai, the prime minister´s foreign affairs advisor.
The donors are concerned as the ministry has blocked approval of 42 project agreements of international non-governmental organization for more than eights months. Minister Ojha said the alleged corruption of officials of the Social Welfare Council should first be investigated and reform should be made in the council before the projects are approved.
“There is an arrear amounting Rs 270 million. It should be first investigated into. There should be reform in the council,” Minister Ojha told Republica about his reservation on approving the project agreements.
As they saw slim chance of getting the 42 project agreements approved from the ministry, representatives of the donor community -- German Ambassador Verena Grafin von Roedern, Danish Ambassador Moreten Jespersen, Swiss Ambassador Thomas Gass and the head of the Department for International Development Sarah Sanyahumbi -- met the prime minister on Tuesday and sought his intervention to get the pending projects released.
“We had a brief but very fruitful meeting with the prime minister today. The prime minister gave us an assurance that he will be dealing with the issue. We are confident,” Swiss Ambassador Gass told Republica. According to the Association of International NGOs in Nepal, the project agreements are currently held up at the Project Approval and Facilitation Committee level which is generally convened by the ministry. Though INGOs and representatives of donors have met with ministers and concerned authorities many times in the past, these meetings have yielded no results.
“In some cases, the ministry has created additional delays to project approval by insisting on the inclusion of infrastructure projects, even demanding these of INGOs that work with governance, capacity building and human rights,” the association said in a statement given to the prime minister.
A top bureaucrat told Republica that Minister Ojha has directed officials at his ministry not to approve any project until the incumbent officials at the Social Welfare Council are not removed from the office. He has already tabled a proposal to this effect in the cabinet but no decision has been taken yet.
According to INGOs, NGOs commonly experience protracted waiting time for approvals. These delays are usually incurred at General Agreement and Project Agreement levels.
However, the average time for agreements currently pending is usually long, more than eight months this time.
INGOs have warned that the delay in approving the project agreements will result into serious consequences. They further say it will also directly affect most vulnerable groups. Likewise, the delay will affect works in health care, education, human rights, anti-trafficking, community-based rehabilitation, infrastructure, poverty alleviation and many others.
The delays have also affected foreign employees working in INGOs.
“We are also extremely concerned over the situation of 20 expatriates whose visas have expired or will expire on January 25,” the INGOs said in the statement, urging the government to immediately approve the project agreements.
kiran@myrepublica.com
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