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Improve performance to tap more opportunities, ADB tells Nepal

Kathmandu, November 23

Asian Development Bank, one of the major development partners of the Nepal government, has called on the government to improve project implementation performance if it wants to further tap investment opportunities available from its donors.

Improving the performance is the key to Nepal getting more funds for development, ADB Deputy Director General for South Asia, Diwesh Sharan, told government officials in Kathmandu on Friday.
“ADB has increased the annual lending level to Nepal from about $254 million a year on average during 2014–2016 to an annual average of $551 million in 2017–2018,” he said during the annual tripartite portfolio review of ADB operations in Nepal, “Improved portfolio performance will help the country to sustain and further tap opportunities of increased lending space provided by ADB.”
According to the ADB, Nepal’s overall project performance is lagging behind this year though it recorded the highest disbursement and contract awards in 2016 and 2017.
“Of the net available funding amount of $2.8 billion spread over 36 investment projects (31 loans and 5 grants), 44% is still to be contracted and 64% is still to be disbursed,” an ADB statement reads.
Meanwhile, the government expressed its commitment to formulating a realistic action plan to remove key constraints could accelerate the project implementation performance of the projects.
Speaking at the meeting, the Ministry of Finance’s International Economic Cooperation Coordination Division chief Shree Krishna Nepal said, “The ongoing federalism implementation process has posed some challenges along with the current inadequate fiduciary, technical, and project supervision capacity.”

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