The money was initially earmarked for the allowances to 19,608 Maoist combatants living in the cantonments monitored by the United Nations Mission in Nepal. But the World Bank suspended the grant in July after the government and other stakeholders to Nepal´s peace process, in the aftermath of the video scandal, could neither prove nor disapprove the reports that the allowances for the combatants were being used for political purpose of UCPN-M.
“The bank has agreed in principle to provide the [suspended] grant to the government to spend in the peace sector,” Peace and Reconstruction Secretary Punya Prasad Neupane told myrepublica.com.
The bank agreed to provide the suspended grant upon the request of the government, following a visit of an assessment team from the World Bank Headquarters last month, officials said.
As per the agreement that is yet to be formalized, the grant will be used in three areas of peace sector: allowance to widows, capacity building of peace mechanism and conflict affected rehabilitation packages, according to Neupane.
The suspended grant is a part of US$50 million grant approved by the WB´s board in May 2008 under the Nepal Emergency Peace Support Project (EPSP).
“We are now discussing on specific programs to be supported by the grant,” Neupane said.
Following the leakage of the controversial footage of Dahal, which showed an inflated number of Maoist combatants, the bank had also declined to reimburse the amount that the government had already spent in allowances to the combatants.
kiran@myrepublica.com
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