Economy to grow by 2.27% this year, PCI to reach $1085

Kathmandu, Apr. 29

The government has projected that the economy of the country will expand by just 2.27 per cent this year breaking the high growth trajectory of above 6 per cent for the last three consecutive years.

"Severe impact of the coronavirus pandemic in major economic sectors and internal and external measures applied to check the spread of the virus will have repercussion in the growth of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the country," said the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS).

The statistical body under the National Planning Commission has prepared the growth estimates based on the first seven to nine months of the current fiscal year 2019/20.

"The economy will grow by 2.27 per cent at the constant price in the current FY, however, the estimates were made on the basis of the impacts of the pandemic on hotel, restaurants and international transportation since the situation in the recent future is unknown," said the CBS. But it said it was hopeful that the other economic sectors would revive gradually from mid-May.

This growth is the lowest since FY 2015/16 when the economy reached the lowest ebb of 0.01 per cent in the recent times due to the devastating 2015 Gorkha earthquake and the Indian blockade in 2015 and 2016.

In the last fiscal 2018/19, the economy grew by 6.75 per cent and in 2017/18 by 6.35 per cent.

Growth rate of all three economic sectors is projected to shrink by more than half while the tertiary sector will nosedive as it was the first sector to be affected by the pandemic.

The primary sector, secondary and tertiary sector are estimated to grow by 2.5 per cent, 3.36 per cent and 1.99 per cent respectively this year against the growth of 5.1 per cent 8.1 per cent and 7.29 per cent in the last fiscal.

Primary sector includes agriculture, forest, fishery, mines and excavation. It is largely based on the production of rice which is reduced by 1 per cent compared to last year's 9 per cent growth. Likewise, the obstruction created by the lockdown will also disturb the growth of this sector, said CBS.

Secondary sector includes industries like construction, manufacturing, energy and water. Most of the industries except for a few essential good producers are completely halted since the implementation of lockdown on March 24.

Tertiary sector comprises of service businesses like wholesale and retail trade, hotel, restaurant, transportation, financial intermediaries and real estate.

The share of the agriculture, industry and service sectors will be 28.20 per cent, 13.72 per cent and 58.08 per cent respectively.

The GDP in consumer price is Rs. 3767 billion.

Hotels are hit hard

According to the CBS, hotels and restaurants are the most hit sectors among all as they are estimated to witness a loss of 16.30 per cent compared to the growth of 11.06 per cent last year.

Other sub-sectors that are expected to catch negative growth are transport, storage and communications, construction and manufacturing.

However, electricity, gas and water subsectors will grow by 28.75 per cent. Health and social work, fishing, and public administration and defence will see better growth, higher than previous year.

PCI $1,085

The per capita income (PCI) of Nepali citizen is estimated to reach US$ 1,085 (Rs. 126,018) in the current fiscal year.

Current PCI stands at $1,032.

The NPC has projected that the PCI will reach $3,222 (at the current exchange rate) before 2030 – the year when Nepal will be a middle-income country from the developing one.

Likewise, the gross fixed capital formation is Rs. 1060 billion.

Remittance is Rs. 716 billion with 19.01 per cent ratio to the GDP.

Annual growth rate of major economic activities (in per cent)

Category	2017/18	2018/19	2019/20
Agriculture and forestry	2.72	5.05	2.48
Mining and quarrying	8.88	8.91	-0.69
Manufacturing	9.17	6.82	-2.27
Electricity, gas and water	9.64	9.15	28.75
Construction	10.02	8.05	-0.31
Wholesale and retail trade	12.54	11.06	2.11
Hotels and restaurants	9.77	7.33	-16.30
Transport/storage & communication	4.65	5.90	-2.45
Financial intermediation	6.38	6.18	5.15
Real estate and renting	5.24	6.12	3.25
Education	5.02	5.11	4.88
Health and social work	6.33	6.75	7.07

Source: CBS.

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 30 April 2020. 

UNDP stresses more investment in health to minimise impact of COVID-19

Kathmandu, Apr 29

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has said that the governments in the Asia and the Pacific Regions must dramatically overhaul policies and invest in public health, economic stimulus and social safety nets to help countries recover faster from the COVID-19 pandemic.

A report 'Position Note on the Social and Economic Impacts of COVID-19 in Asia-Pacific' warns that a patchwork of pre-existing solutions won’t work and points out that governments must coordinate with each other to hasten the recovery.

This is a global crisis and working in silos is not an option, it said.  

It calls for policies and actions that immediately strengthen health systems, to save lives and prevent the spread of the virus and advocates for the rapid expansion of social protection measures, to sustain incomes, especially for the most affected and vulnerable. 

Governments will need huge resources to bolster public health, for the economic stimulus, and for social safety nets, which will place an enormous strain on budgets.

To meet that challenge, the report asks governments to revise priorities reflected in budget revenue, spending and financing. Budget revisions may be painful but are necessary, to meet this emergency and to contain fiscal deficits and surges in public debt, at manageable levels.

A key step is to collaboratively resolve the long-standing issue of so-called ‘fiscal termites’ that undermine national budgets: tax competition, tax evasion via transfer pricing and tax havens, large fossil fuel subsidies, and finding ways to tax the digital economy. 

Further steps include restarting trade in goods, even as borders are closed for people – starting from essential goods such as medical supplies and food; and effectively coordinating the movement of stranded migrants and refugees.

The report calls on countries in the region to avoid returning to the pre-pandemic environmentally unsustainable development path, and to capitalize on the opportunity to build a better future. 

 “While we must focus on the immediate needs of a health crisis, the accompanying economic and social crises also need urgent attention. These feed on pre-pandemic vulnerabilities that will be a fire hard to contain, if not addressed together,” said Kanni Wignaraja, UN Assistant Secretary-General and UNDP Director of the Regional Bureau for Asia and the Pacific. “Bold proposals in this report address the multiple shocks together, by proposing a different set of choices today to build a different tomorrow.” 

“As the Government of Nepal and many other development practitioners have started to analyse the impact of the pandemic on the lives of people in Nepal, we hope this report will bring some of the early observations from the region. We hope this will be useful and inform Nepal’s ongoing assessments,” said Ayshanie Medagangoda-Labe, UNDP Resident Representative in Nepal.  

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 30 April 2020. 

Qatar Fund sends medical support

Kathmandu, Apr 29

Qatar Fund for Development has sent a cargo of urgent medical aid to Nepal on Wednesday.

The agency under the Qatar government said that the support was provided to Nepal to support the government's efforts to control the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.

The cargo includes 500,000 3-layer masks, 55,000 3-layer medical and surgical masks each, 15,000 face shields, 50,000 protective gloves and 7,500 protective overalls.

It also comes with 12,000 surgical gowns, 14,400 safety goggles and 14,400 protective goggles and other items amounting 725,000 pieces.

Khalifa bin Jassem Al-Kuwari, Director General of Qatar Fund for Development, said that the medical assistance offered to Nepal was an expression of solidarity and collaboration among brothers and friends, and it also came within the framework of the global efforts to fight this pandemic.

“This aid is based on the common international responsibility and supporting the international community’s exerted efforts aiming at controlling the spread of the virus,” he added.

The support is complimentary to what Qatar has already provided to other friendly countries such as Iran, Lebanon, Italy, Tunisia and Rwanda.

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 30 April 2020. 

NRB cuts interest rates by 2% for COVID affected businesses

Kathmandu, Apr 29

Nepal Rastra Bank has announced second relief programme for the entrepreneurs and industries.

It has asked all BFIs to mandatorily reduce interest rate by 2 per cent and barred them to raise it till the end of the current fiscal.

Issuing two directives to the banks and financial institutions (BFIs) the other day, the central bank has asked them to calculate the interest rate for the last three months of the current fiscal year 2019/20 with 2 per cent discount on the prevailing interest rate.

This is the second announcement from the central bank after the country entered into lockdown following the threat from the coronavirus pandemic.

Banks can mobilise up to 10 per cent additional working capital loan to the tourism and aviation industries including hotel, restaurant, resort, travel and trekking, aviation, transportation and poultry.

Ceiling of such loan cannot be renewed, and it should be repaid in a year at maximum.

However, business and industries related to food processing, production and sales, gas bottling plants and distributors, soap and chemicals, pharmaceuticals and distributors, internet and telecommunication, tobacco and liquor and hydroelectricity projects in operation will not be eligible for the discount on interest rates.

Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) will get the refinancing facility of up to Rs 1.5 million in good loan on the collateral at the rate of 2 per cent interest.

BFIs will not be allowed to charge more than 5 per cent interest rate in such refinancing facility and for the variation in the interest rate during the loan mobilisation period.

Likewise, Class 'D' microfinance companies should reduce their interest rate by 3 per cent. However, the wholesale lending microfinance institutions need to reduce it by 2 per cent.

The new interest rate provision will be effective till the end of the current fiscal year, mid-July 2020.

The NRB has also directed the BFIs to collect the monthly or tri-monthly instalments of the loan that is due in Jestha (mid-May) by mid-July.

Repayment period for the capital and interest of all short-term loan of working capital nature that needed to be paid during the lockdown period can now be extended by 60 days, said the central bank.

No additional fees or fines should be charged on such payments if made before mid-July.

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 30 April 2020. 

Nimbu expands online shop

Kathmandu, Apr 29

Nimbus' online shop numbusbazar.com has extended its services in Birgunj along with additional products.

It has started taking online orders from March 22 this year to provide a safe shopping for customers.

Initially it began with a limited number of daily goods and now extended its services in different parts of the country and included an additional range of products.

Currently it is operating in Kathmandu and Birgunj.

"Along with existing products such as edible oils, flours, lentils, pickles, rice, chiura, soya nuggets, masala, soups, dog food, mask and sanitizer, nimbusbazar has now added biscuits, chana, popcorn, noodles, salt, baby diaper, cleaning and washing products," said the company.

The company has also started accepting online payment through the mobile payment option.

“We have always priortised the convenience of our customers. Nimbusbazar has refrained from including minimum order since the beginning,” said Anand Bagaria, Managing Director of Nimbus.

He said that the goods delivery personnel were well trained about the coronavirus safety measures, including personal hygiene and social distancing.

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 30 April 2020. 

Share market in process of full automation

Kathmandu, Apr 29

The Securities Board of Nepal (SEBON) has initiated the work to make the share transaction fully automated.

Currently, the Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) – the only share market platform in the country – has implemented partial automation in share transaction.

"The board has started to make the market fully automated. We hope that the new system will come into operation after a couple of months after the lifting of the lockdown," said SEBON Chair Bhisma Raj Dhungana in a video conference organised by Nepal Financial Journalist Association on Tuesday.

He said that the capital market regulator and NEPSE had allocated dedicated teams to develop and implement the new and advanced system.

He said that the market would not resume soon since about 400 individuals needed to be present in various agencies and brokers. "It will disturb the lockdown which is necessary to save the lives in the time of crisis. However, we will try to find a way out once the lockdown is relaxed," he said.

According to Dhungana, the board has directed NEPSE to develop a modality to run the share market for a brief period every day.

Chief Executive Officer of NEPSE Chandra Singh Saud said that the stock market was likely to open for a couple of hours every day from May 7.

"I think we should open the stock market for a brief period each day. But we are yet to decide about the modality to open the market. Preparations are underway," he said.

We need business continuity plan, disaster recovery plan and information technology policy to resume market operation so we have recently approved the IT Policy and send it to the SEBON, said Saud.

He lamented that investors were not attracted to the online share transaction system although the currently implemented system was capable of addressing the need of the market.

Before the lockdown, about 45 per cent of the share transactions used to happen from the online system.

Share investor Ambika Prasad Poudel suggested that the market should be open at least partially to keep it alive.

"Since the period of lockdown is unknown, the market should be opened partially. It should be opened limiting the time and ceiling for circuit breaker," he said.

It would be 45 days of the market closure by May 7.

According to him, the prolonged market closure would send negative message to the investors as well as the foreign and non-residential Nepali investors.

He urged the regulator to open the market by allocating hours for the brokerage firms.

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 30 April 2020. 

NRB to grant concessions in fourth quarter interest

Kathmandu, Apr 26

The Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) has announced that the current Rs 60 billion refinancing fund would be increased in near future to manage capital to mobilise in the coronavirus-affected businesses.

"The central bank will amend the Refinancing Procedures to mobilise the facility efficiently to the COVID-19 affected areas, including small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and tourism," said NRB Governor Maha Prasad Adhikari in a speech delivered on the occasion of 63^rd Anniversary of the bank.

He said that the provincial balance would also be maintained while leveraging the refinancing facility.

According to Adhikari, concession would be granted in the interest of fourth quarter payment of loan in the current fiscal year and additional measures would be applied to simplify the process of bank loan mobilisation.

"Arrangements would be made to facilitate the loan that needed to be paid during the lockdown period to pay later. Highly affected sectors will have easy current capital loan facility," he said.

He pledged his commitment to mobilise enough financial resources to the economic sectors like infrastructure, SMEs, agriculture, energy and tourism in order to enable them to develop resilience and revive in the time of crisis created by the coronavirus pandemic.

Saying that even the developed countries are in a situation of confusion and uneasiness due to the sudden outbreak of the deadly virus across the world, Adhikari noted that banks and businesses in Nepal should move ahead with caution. "This is a hard time but the central bank is committed to maintain economic stability by expanding the economy and reducing the impacts of the pandemic on tourism, trade, foreign employment, financial sector and infrastructure development," he said.

In case of Nepal, the crisis has directly affected the high-growth trajectory that the country was witnessing for the last three consecutive years.

The central bank has already announced 10 per cent discount on bank loan interest and the payback period has been extended up to the end of the current fiscal year.

Likewise, it has slashed the compulsory capital reserve ratio and bank rate, stopped the provision for countercyclical capital buffer, and announced priority to the health institutions and facilities in loan facilities if they wanted to extend and expand the facility and services.

Similarly, the banks and financial institutions can count the monetary contributions they made to the federal and state-level coronavirus treatment fund as the corporate social responsibility (CSR).

The NRB has also waived off the charge of electronic payments in order to facilitate and encourage people to make financial transactions during the lockdown period.

Adhikari said that the reduction in paddy production and impact of coronavirus on tourism, transportation, construction and industries would affect the economic growth. It is also likely to increase the cost and time of the development projects.

According to him, the financial reach has expanded to 746 local bodies out of 753 with 9,692 branches of 162 banks and financial institutions. Commercial banks have 4,218 branches, development banks 1,216, finance companies 239 and micro-finance institutions 4,019 branches across the countries. One branch is catering to about 3,055 people.

Also, there are 1,585 branchless banking and 3,945 ATMs across the country. The BFIs have 31.7 million deposit accounts and 1.5 million borrowers.

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 27 April 2020. 

Coronavirus erodes confidence of women micro-entrepreneurs

Kathmandu, Apr 25

Micro-entrepreneurs across the country are bearing the brunt of the lockdown, enforced since a month ago to save the lives of people from the deadly coronavirus pandemic, as it sent them off work and hit their livelihoods.

According to the experts and stakeholders, most of the micro-entrepreneurs are own-account workers and cater to the immediate market in their locality. But the nationwide shutdown of the business and public activities in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak has created the risk of causing severe impact on their business and, experts warn, some of them might be out of business if the closure prolonged for another month or two.

Another startling fact is that most of the micro-entrepreneurs are women thus creating another risk of eroding the women empowerment situation and causing the loss in confidence.

"There is a growing confusion about the situation. I am receiving many calls everyday from my colleagues across the country asking about further steps during the time of lockdown," said Kesha Pariyar, Immediate Past Chairperson of National Micro-Entrepreneurs Federation (NMEFEN).

Since most of them are engaged in agriculture, production of food items like pickle and juice and other small businesses, there is a growing risk of damage of products. "Many of the entrepreneurs in micro-business will not be able to pay the rent of their shop or show-room as they are managing it from the income of their venture," said Pariyar.

Prakash Raj Sharma, Chief Executive Office of Laxmi Laghubitta Bittiya Sanstha, said that 61 per cent MFIs loan is mobilised in agriculture sector including animal husbandry, cereals, vegetables and fruits, dairy and poultry.

Other major areas of microenterprise are groceries and handicraft.

"We are aware that there has been no production or supply from the microenterprises after the execution of lockdown. Many clients might face challenge in repaying the loan as their production is stalled and savings is going to consumption," said Sharma.

Chairman of the Centre for Self-Help Development (CSD) Shankar Man Shrestha said that the customers of microfinance would be partially affected by the pandemic. "Businesses like poultry and food processing will be more affected," he said.

Women at the helm

Statistics point to a graver situation. Almost all customers of MFIs are women. Sharma said that of the total MFI members, women comprise almost 99 per cent.

According to the Nepal Rastra Bank, the micro-finance institutions in the country have about 4.6 million customers. The 87 MFIs have mobilised Rs 1.26 trillion in loans of which micro-enterprises and micro-businesses cover Rs 100 billion and Rs 935 billion respectively.

Likewise, the government-run Micro-Enterprise Development for Poverty Alleviation (MEDPA) – formerly known as MEDEP – has created more than 131,000 micro-entrepreneurs by 2018 of which 74 per cent are women.

It has supported more than 36,000 micro-enterprises to graduate to small enterprise and created more than 172,000 employment. Coronavirus might cause severe damage to both the enterprises and employees.

Although the business organisations like the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI), Nepal Chamber of Commerce (NCC) and Confederation of Nepalese Industries (CNI) said that the government should address the issues of micro-small-medium enterprises as a whole, the Federation of Nepalese Cottage and Small Industries (FNCSI) said that there was a need for a special consideration of the demand by the women entrepreneurs.

Anjana Tamrakar, Vice-President of the FNCSI, said that there were issues that were unique to the women entrepreneurs which needed special attention. Many women entrepreneurs said that women in business contribute to peace in society and family as well as empowerment of women as they tend to give priority to women in employment.

The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) has said that women in business face multiple challenges like limited access to financial resources and external credit, insufficient access to extension services like training, limited access to basic processing and storage and marketing of their products. And, crisis like coronavirus pandemic result in amplifying those challenges thus making the entrepreneurship even harder for women.

Micro-finance scenario (by mid-January 2020)

Title	Detail
Number of MFIs	87
MFI reach (districts)	77
Number of branches	3,803
Number of centres	298,587
Number of groups	1,006,574
Total members	4.57 million
Borrowers	2.8 million
Total loan mobilisation	Rs 1.26 trillion
Micro-enterprise loan	Rs 100 billion
Micro-business loan	Rs 935 billion

Source: Nepal Rastra Bank

Refinancing option

NMFEEN's Pariyar said that alternatives should be created to rescue the micro-entrepreneurs from the crisis. "We are expecting some policy address such as relief or discount in the principal and interest of the loan," she said.

According to her, many micro-entrepreneurs want the local bodies to take steps to support them since their activities are vital to make the local economy vibrant.

Shrestha said that the MFIs should reschedule the repayment. "However, such facility should not be given to all clients. It should be client or project-based and should be given as per the need," he maintained.

He said that the blanket relief policy might benefit the duplicate customers which comprise as much as 30 per cent of total micro-finance clientele.

"The MFIs have reserved fund that can be used in the time of crisis and providing refinancing facility to the micro-entrepreneurs," said Shrestha.

Sharma suggested for the restructuring of the loan mobilised in the micro-enterprise sector. "Refinancing can be an effective solution," he said.

The NRB is looking into the situation. Its Spokesperson Dr Gunakar Bhatta said, "We are assessing the impact of the lockdown on banks and businesses. Since both the channels of demand and supply are distorted, it is difficult to say about the future course now," he said.

According to him, since the pandemic has immediate impact on the confidence of the entrepreneurs, a policy intervention is needed.

"I think that we should also assess the moral hazard as well. The country does not have the capacity of waiving the loans," he said, "Further steps on facilities and relief will be taken in coordination with the government."

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 26 April 2020. 

‘Pawankali’ to talk with kids about KOVID-19

Kathmandu, Apr 24

Famous television host ‘Pawankali’ - Loonibha Tuladhar – intends to interact with children on her show.

Save the Children, along with the Ministry of Health and Population (MoHP), National Health Education Information and Communication Centre (NHEICC) have collaborated with the popular comedy show, to develop web and radio-based contents for children and general audiences on COVID-19.

The ‘Pawankali’ show will be aired from 26th April 2020 every Sunday at 7:15 to 7:30 AM from all community FM stations in Nepal through the Community Information Network (CIN), as well as YouTube, and other social media channels.

“Understanding the need for child-friendly content in popular media, Save the Children is collaborating with the ‘Pawankali’ show to communicate with children, as well as the general audiences on the ongoing COVID-19 situation,” shared Bandana Risal, the Interim Country Director of Save the Children.

According to Risal, the format of the comedy has the potential to subtly educate, make aware, and inform children, and the general audiences on COVID-19 issues, and also trigger behaviour change actions, which in turn will inspire audiences to embrace positive behaviour to curb the spread of COVID-19.

The show is being hosted by the popular theatre artist and actor, Loonibha Tuladhar. In line with social distancing guidelines the show will be filmed/recorded remotely, ensuring all cast, crew and participants are kept safe. 

The web and radio content of the ‘Pawankali’ show will discuss issues of rumour management, mental health, violence against children, education through localized comedy skits, and interviews with technical experts, celebrities, and children from different parts of the country.

“We recognize the power of media to educate people on critical information related to COVID-19. Evidence-based information relayed through the web and radio contents of the ‘Pawankali’ show will help the government to tackle misinformation and infodemic related to COVID-19,” said, Kunja Joshi, Senior Health Education Administrator of NHEICC.

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 25 April 2020. 

‘Technology transfer a must to fight virus’

Kathmandu, Apr 24

Finance Minister Dr. Yuba Raj Khatiwada has suggested to pay attention to technology transfer to low-income countries in order to enable them to fight against the coronavirus pandemic.

“There should be assurance of the supply of food, medicines and health equipment to the developing countries,” he said in a video conference with the officials of the World Economic Forum, head of the governments and high officials of the South Asian countries, private sector representatives and World Health Orgnisation authorities the other day.

FM Dr. Khatiwada emphasised on international and regional efforts, collaboration and cooperation to face the global crisis created by the coronavirus pandemic.

“There is a need for cross border as well as international support to provide basic facilities to the migrant workers. The borders must be tightly regulated for the movement of people,” he said.

He recommended to relocate the resources spent in the security sector to human welfare.

He also said that the recent health crisis had weakened the decades-long campaigns for poverty alleviation and created challenges to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 25 April 2020. 

COVID-19 likely to delay reconstruction drive

Kathmandu, Apr 24

The coronavirus pandemic is likely to extend the time and cost of the post-quake reconstruction.

“If the crisis prolonged for another couple of months, the reconstruction drive will witness time and cost overrun,” said Sushil Gyawali, Chief Executive Officer of the National Reconstruction Authority (NRA) while talking to The Rising Nepal on Friday.

Friday, Baishakh 12, marks the fifth memorial of the devastating earthquake.

A 6.9 magnitude earthquake that hit the country five year ago on  April 25 at 11:56 AM had killed 9,000 people and damaged about a million private houses and thousands of heritages as well as public infrastructure in 32 districts.

Work at the iconic Dharhara and historic Ranipokhari has come to a halt with the implementation of lockdown a month ago.

The government was planning to inaugurate the Ranipokhari, including the Balgopaleshwor temple that opens on the day of Bhaitika, toady after completing all the rebuilding work.

Likewise, preparations were made for the completion of Singhadurbar retrofitting and shifting the Prime Minister’s Office to the building and inauguration of Durbar High School. Dharhara would be at least two stories taller by now, said the NRA.

But the COVID-19 pandemic affected the rebuilding work sending the workers to confinement.

The preparations made to complete the rebuilding works and handing over the remaining works to the respective agencies would be affected due to this unexpected halt.

“Our primary focus is to complete the private house reconstruction. However, some significant work at the cultural heritages will remain incomplete. Likewise, implementation of master plan of integrated development of Dharhara, Ranipokhari and Ratnapark is to be started,” said Gyawali.

The delay might force the government to extend the deadline of the reconstruction body.  However, Gyawali reiterated that it would be early to talk about the extension.

Remaining works

Despite remarkable results in house rebuilding, the reconstruction of heritage has witnessed glitches.

Dharhara, Singha Durbar, Bal Mandir building, Babarmahal, Hariharbhawan, Shree Mahal and Kaiser Mahal are in the rebuilding process while work will be started at the Nuwakot Durbar Square immediately after the corona crisis is over.

The biggest tragedy of reconstruction is Bungmati in Lalitpur district. Even after five years of the disaster, the heritage city has not seen much improvement in reconstruction.

According to Gyawali, the government is mobilising the Indian support in the reconstruction of the city.

“Creating a model of reconstruction in Bungmati and Khokana has delayed the work there. In case of Bungmati, we have asked the local government to finalise the model of the houses to be rebuilt in the city,” he said.

Core-city malady

Houses damaged in the core-city areas of Kathmandu, Bhaktapur and Lalitpur have not been rebuilt. Many house-owners are residing in other areas in the Kathmandu Valley and have not started the rebuilding work since government grant Rs. 300,000 is too small amount to start reconstruction.

Likewise, many houses in those areas are under multi-ownership and some of them also have disputes regarding the land area.

Develop disaster resilient settlement: President

President Bidya Devi Bhandari has emphasised on the development of eco-friendly and safe physical infrastructure and disaster resilient settlement.

Issuing a message on Baishakh 12, she said that since the country was at the risk of disasters like quake, floods, inundation and landslides, Nepal needed to pay attention to creating structures that could sustain catastrophes.

She drew attention of the concerned agencies to study all the structure and run a campaign for retrofitting of the critical infrastructure in the country.

“We have set an example by successful rescue, relief and rehabilitation work in the aftermath of the earthquake. We must continue this good tradition in the future as well,” said President Bhandari.

Nepal is a model in reconstruction: PM

Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli said that it was more difficult to fight with the invisible foe like coronavirus than the reconstruction of the physical infrastructure.

Entire country is in lockdown for a month and it has seriously affected the post-quake reconstruction work, he said in a message on Friday.

“In this war against the coronavirus, I hope that we will move ahead with patience and courage confronting the crisis as we did in the aftermath of the devastating earthquake in 2015,” said PM Oli.

He assured that the government would implement appropriate policies, forge collaborations with the concerned stakeholders and arrange for better management and mobilisation of resources.

According to him, Nepal has been successful in checking casualties from the deadly virus due to timely steps by the government, public unity and support and mass understanding although about 200,000 people have died worldwide.

PM Oli urged one and all to unite for the fight against the coronavirus.

“Entire economy is in a halt. It has equally affected the post-quake reconstruction work. But the government is serious about continue the work with required caution,” he said.

PM Oli said that Nepal had achieved a significant progress in the post-quake reconstruction which could be a lesson for other countries across the globe.

He expressed concerns that some of the heritages were about to complete when the coronavirus pandemic affected their progress and work is halted.

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 25 April 2020.