KATHMANDU, JUL 26 -
Finance Minister Surendra Pandey on Monday urged Asian Development Bank (ADB) to expand aid in the areas of rural roads, electrification and education which were the major interest areas of the ADB.

In a meeting with President of the ADB Haruhiko Kuroda on Monday, the minister said that stringent conditions imposed by donors were a major hindrance to spending foreign aid in development projects.

Minister Pandey  complained that government resources were spent easily but components of foreign aid remained unused. "That's why donors should be flexible in their conditions."

The ADB president arrived in Kathmandu   on Monday, on three-day visit to Nepal coinciding with the 20th anniversary of the establishment of the ADB mission in Nepal. According Rameshwor Khanal, secretary of the Ministry of Finance, the minister was also critical about the donors' general policy of working in a project only after it becomes problem free. "Such a policy delays the project," Khanal said referring to Minister Pandey.

Kuroda said the ADB was more interested in helping Nepal in the areas of rural roads and electrification. He said the ADB would help in solar and wind energy in rural areas where electrification through the national grid would be much difficult.

The ADB also said that it would help to connect Nepal with India, Bhutan and Bangladesh with physical infrastructure including roads and power transmission lines along with development of water resources to address regional power demands.

The ADB has committed around US$ one billion for the upcoming years, according to Finance Ministry officials. Kuroda stressed better spending of the committed budget. The ADB chief was satisfied with the post-conflict economic growth of Nepal, but insisted that Nepal could achieve 7-8 percent growth if the country went ahead in completing the development projects.

He also stressed the need to narrow the income and development gaps in the country.

During the three-day visit, Kuroda is scheduled to visit ADB-assisted projects in Bhairahawa and Lumbini including the road project connecting Bhairahawa and Sunauli.

The ADB had doubled its assistance to Nepal to US$ 559 million in the fiscal year 2009/10 from US$ 258 million in fiscal 2007/2008.

Posted on: 2010-07-27 08:38

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