Senior WB officials expressed such concerns when they and senior government officials jointly reviewed the projects supported by the bank in Nepal. The WB is currently supporting 17 projects in Nepal through concessional loans and grant amounting to US$ 1.3 billion. The meeting reviewed ten projects considered risky and slow-moving or heading to closure later in the year.[break]
The meeting held last week with a motive to unlock implementation issues to enable the projects to accomplish results was chaired by Finance Secretary Krishna Hari Baskota. Tahseen Sayed, WB country manager for Nepal, led the bank team while Lal Shankar Ghimire, joint secretary of Ministry of Finance, coordinated the proceedings. Senior officials from various ministries attended the meeting.
On the occasion, both the government as well as WB officials agreed that frequent and untimely transfer of project staff, weaknesses in financial and procurement management, and limited performance monitoring were also impeding desired outcome of those projects.
However, they appreciated progress made in areas like poverty reduction, gender parity in education, reduction in maternal mortality and improved infrastructure access, among others. The WB has been supporting Nepal in all these areas.
“Nepal´s achievements in the areas of health, education and livelihoods have made a positive impact on people´s lives, especially girls and women” a statement of the WB quoted Sayed as saying at the meeting.
Despite budget delay, Baskota said that the government will make budget allocations available on time and accelerate implementation of five projects closing in 2013, ensuring proper utilization of the remaining amount available under these projects.
Senior officials of other ministries too expressed commitment to expedite implementation, curtail staff transfers and unlock the issues impeding progress in the energy sector projects.
Baskota also proposed to organize a high-level meeting to address implementation issues, including compliance with social and environment safeguards, which is slowing down progress in the energy sector.
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