ADB that recently came up with country partnership strategy (CPS) for 2010-2012 has for the first time incorporated climate change and environmental sustainability as one of its pillars of operations in Nepal. [break]
The bank attributes Nepal as one of the most vulnerable countries to natural disasters and exposed to adversities of climate change for the shift in this priority.
"Climate change has exposed country´s agricultural and hydro-resources to serious risks. In dry seasons, the country suffers from water scarcity and there is also a risk of glacier lakes exploding," says Barry J Hitchcock, country director of ADB Nepal.
The new pledge from one of the leading multilateral donors has come at a time when natural disasters from floods and landslides during monsoon have become a common phenomenon. Excessive pumping out of ground water too has depleted underground water level, posing particular threats to water management and agriculture.
"If we do not prepare from now and prioritize programs for it, we will find difficulty in managing things when the disaster actually strikes," he stated.
ADB has said that it would also continue its assistance on socio-economic and governance fronts. Broad-based inclusive economic growth, inclusive social development and governance reform programs as its other three core areas of operations.
For the CPS, which ADB has unveiled aligning its priority with the government´s 3-year Interim Plan, it has increased its assistance to $ 671.40 million.
"Going by the CPS, Nepal can effectively receive assistance of about $261.50 million a year from ADB over the span of next three years," said Hitchcock. "And if the government performed well, the volume will further go up," he added.
Apart from the regular sources, ADB is also mulling over mobilizing additional resources through co-finances, public-private partnership and non-sovereign loans.
Under its investment plan for 2010, ADB has formulated 21 projects and programs. "Our assistance for the year is focused in areas like agriculture and natural resources, education, energy, finances, transportation, information and communication technology, drinking water and municipality infrastructure and services," said Hitchcock.
The major projects in the pipeline include community irrigation, crop diversification and commercialization, rural finance sector development, finance and capital market development, Kathmandu sustainable urban transportation, second urban integrated environmental reform and West Seti Hydropower Project.
Given that Nepal´s development endeavor was largely driven by the donors, Hitchcock admits that the failure of the country to post substantial results on key socio-economic front, especially infrastructure, as also the failure of the donors.
He said that there has been some improvement on the inclusion and socio-economic front, but those are still less than what we liked to have. “What is disheartening though is, the country over the period of five decades should have at least managed to build alternate highways linking Kathmandu and other cities and hydropower projects to meet the country´s growing power demand," he says.
Hitchcock has expressed happiness that ADB joined hands with the WB and DFID, two other large donors of Nepal, to harmonize their programs. This, according to him, has increased efficiency, saved time and also helped development partners focus on areas of their expertise, harmonizing overall development operations.
He also noted that the country will also have joint assistance strategy of all donors like in Bangladesh, if the government wished. “But for that it should be very particular and should know all its priorities and the way it wants to address the development constraints."
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