MONEY»
ADB aid volume declines
KATHMANDU, SEP 07 -
The Asian Development Bank on Tuesday awarded three projects—Road Connectivity Sector I Project, Decentralised Rural Infrastructure and Livelihood Project and Community Livestock Development Project—funded by it for their good performance.
Finance Secretary Rameshwor Khanal gave the awards to the projects for improving the lives of the rural people by providing jobs, skill-building and income opportunities.
Speaking on the occasion, Khanal said both volume of contract award of projects and ratio of aid disbursement by the Asian Development Bank had come down drastically in 2010 although ADB’s performance was at a record high in 2009. The contract award stood at US$ 44.9 million which is 34 percent against the target set till Aug 31, according to the Ministry of Finance (MoF). The disbursement of aid also was US$ 40 million, just 35 percent of the annual target. “This shows the downward trend in ADB aid,” said Khanal at the ADB country portfolio review workshop.
Donors have been reviewing the performance of their aid before the Nepal Portfolio Performance Review (NPRR) scheduled on Sept 9-10. It is a gathering of government agencies and donors being held since 2000. The reason behind low disbursement is the failure of the government agencies to seek reimbursement which is mounting pressure on the treasury.
The government is yet to get reimbursement for Rs 33 billion from donors until the fiscal year 2009-10, according to the Financial Comptroller General Office.
“We can still increase the performance level of the disbursement ratio as there is still time to meet the target for 2010,” said Khanal.
Speaking at the programme, ADB Country director Barry Hitchcock said, “The portfolio performance review workshop will help concerned stakeholders work out the weak points so as to achieve the target set.”
Posted on: 2010-09-08 08:59
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