Thursday, September 5, 2019

Govt announces 14.7 billion support for sub-national bodies


 Kathmandu, Sept. 4
Nepal has signed a joint financing agreement with the European Union (EU), Switzerland, Norway and the United Kingdom for 100 million US dollars (equivalent to Rs. 11.4 billion) support to strengthen federalism and improve service delivery of the local levels.

Nepal will contribute 30 million dollars to the project titled as 'Provincial and local governance support programme (PLGSP)' that aims at capacity building of the local governments in the federal structure.

The project is designed to strengthen the capacity of the State and local governments to deliver public service in a more effective and efficient way.

The four-year project begins from Fiscal Year 2019/20 and will run till FY 2022/23.
"It is a highly prioritised programme," said Shree Krishna Nepal, Chief of International Economic Cooperation and Coordination Division at the Ministry of Finance (MoF).

"This project will ensure to attain functional, sustainable, inclusive and accountable provincial and local governance by maximising benefits of cooperative federalism for Nepali citizens," he added.

The Ministry of Federal Affairs and General Administration (MoFAGA) said that the programme was designed as a framework programme that would link the three levels of the governments.

"It will focus on enhancing the knowledge, skills and attitude of the provincial and local governments. System reform, information technology initiatives and efficient service delivery are the priority," said Ramesh Adhikari, Under-Secretary at the MoFAGA and Manager of the programme.

According to him, the programme will also include audit and procurement support and institution building.

The agreement was signed by Nepal on behalf of the government and Matthew John Rycroft, Permanent Secretary at the Department for International Development of the United Kingdom, Lasse Bjorn Johannessen, Ambassador of Norway to Nepal, and Elisabeth Von Capeller, Ambassador of Switzerland to Nepal on behalf of their respective government. The EU has already extended the commitments and will sign the agreement at the earliest.

Rycroft said that the international community was impressed by the progress made by Nepal in implementing federalism in the last two years.

He said that the cooperation was extended so that people could realise the benefits of federalism. "We assure further support in overcoming the challenges in institutionalising and strengthening federalism," he said.

Johannessen said that the Norwegian Embassy was committed to partnering with other agencies to enable the local governments in executing their part of jobs.

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 5 September 2019. 

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