KATHMANDU, Aug 29: The government has projected that Nepal will need investment of US $4-5 billion for reconstruction of the infrastructure damaged by the Wednesday Bhotekoshi-Trishuli floods.
Talking to the international media Reuters on Saturday, Finance Minister Swarnim Wagle said that the government’s preliminary estimation shows the requirement of investment worth almost one-tenth of the country’s gross domestic product. “However, exact assessment of losses and damages are yet to be ascertained,” Wagle said.
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A glacier collapse on Wednesday unleashed a huge torrent of rock, ice, mud and debris through Himalayan mountain river systems, killing more than 600 people in Nepal and China's Tibet, with more than 2,000 still unaccounted for.
The flood levelled towns in the border area, sweeping away bridges and roads and damaging major hydropower stations.
Wagle, however, said that the reconstruction bill could be less the US $9 billion spent after for the reconstruction purpose of the 2015 magnitude-7.8 earthquake, Nepal's worst recorded disaster. It killed nearly 9,000 people, destroyed more than half a million homes and caused losses estimated at around one-third of Nepal's economy.
“The recent floods will nevertheless be a major blow to an economy reliant on remittances, tourism and hydropower, damaging power projects that account for more than 12 percent of national generating capacity,” Wagle said.
