In the early sixties, we received American assistance for setting up necessary infrastructure for wireless aeronautical telecommunications for international air navigation at Kathmandu as well as other significant domestic airports. That was then followed by Australian aid between early seventies and early nineties for replacing old equipments as well as fresh installations at the then new Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) and Nepalgunj Airport. In the late nineties, we received French assistance for upgrading aeronautical infrastructure at different remote airports.
The basic cause of misuse of power and corruption in every Nepali public sector undertaking is the unfettered Nepali greed where one in position of influence wishes to provide not only for himself but also to store enough for the coming generations.
This, in turn, was followed by Japanese assistance for setting up radar facilities at TIA in the wake of two consecutive passenger jet crashes in 1992. The Japanese assistance was sizable in scope and encompassed not only air traffic control radar at TIA but also multimillion-dollar radar training facilities at Sanothimi, Bhaktapur for training both air-traffic controllers as well as maintenance technicians. Paid from Japanese taxpayers’ money, the assistance has not been fully utilized even until today when the radar is nearing the end of its service life of about 15 years. The first lot of nearly a score of maintenance technicians was sent to Japan under the assistance program for training them on the system as well as to prepare them as instructors to train the next generation of technicians and engineers in Nepal. This training of instructors also included providing a seat for a radar technician to pursue a Master’s course in Japan in order to develop necessary skills and knowledge to be an effective radar instructor.
Sadly, contrary to what had been envisaged, the maintenance training facility continued to gather dust despite the fact that four batches of engineers have entered the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) since then. Of course, now, the facility, sooner rather than later, stands to be scrapped as a new radar facility will be acquired and shall, in all likelihood, come along with its own set of training facility. In light of the above facts, why can’t it be argued that the Japanese aid was deliberately misused by the Government of Nepal, more specifically CAAN? The Japanese government is known to be sensitive to the end use of its aid but in this particular case, for some strange reason, it chose to look the other way. The Office of Comptroller and Auditor General, Nepal, too could not scratch beneath the surface of what has since been presented as a success story. Perhaps, the auditors from this office are only interested in raising their fair share from projects that are lucrative while disregarding other such “dry” grant projects where the money doesn’t trickle down.
The French Agreement of the late nineties also included provisions for training Nepali technicians under the French Aerospace Industry Cooperation Agency for International Education (FASIA) program at French aviation universities in various technical fields like airworthiness and aviation electronics. In the days of just months-long governments (1998-2004) when the Director General (CEO) of CAAN was being replaced in less than a year, these seats were utilized to good effect by them, not for training CAAN technicians, but for sending their own sons for the courses and readying them for world-class aviation careers, while the rest of the seats were auctioned off to outsiders to raise funds for themselves. The Agreement had clearly stated that the CAAN Director General alone could forward the names of the candidates with necessary work experience to the FASIA program.
When the CIAA half-heartedly tried to investigate this matter of abuse of authority, the Agreement file was stated to have been untraceable in CAAN. Perhaps, the magicians at CAAN had made the file invisible to ward off the chances of being caught. In fact, a formal request to the French Embassy for the details of the lucky few would have yielded the necessary grounds for punitive action for those involved in this racket. Sadly, the culprits involved have since risen to the topmost echelons of bureaucracy and are using their honed skills for even higher pursuits.
These two examples clearly illustrate the state of (ab)use of foreign assistance by an organization that claims to be right there at the top. It remains implausible as to why any sensible donor agency with a definite end-use policy continues to provide grant to an organization that is involved in doing business without any competition and, in the process, remains unaccountable for the improper use of precious assistance that could have found a better use somewhere else in Nepal itself.
The basic cause of all such ills in every Nepali public sector undertaking is the unfettered Nepali greed where one in position of influence with a fleeting tenure wishes to provide not only for himself for the coming rainy days but also to store enough for the coming generations. In this process, of course, his sympathizers get to enjoy the dropped tidbits. This poverty of mindset is further aggravated by the typical Nepali bureaucratic approach of remaining blissfully unmindful of the results while pretending to remain engrossed in insensible procedures and accomplishing all possible personal goals and desires, leaving the organization in a shambles. Of course, all these continue to happen because the incompetent and insensitive politicians are ever-busy hankering after power and have no time to worry about their accountability to the common man.
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