Although the Reconstruction Act,
2015, has made provisions for a separate fund of the post-quake reconstruction,
there has been no progress towards implementing the legal condition even after
more than 15 months of the Act’s promulgation.
The Fund was never a priority
for the government.
As the government couldn’t
activate the fund 14 months after the devastating Gorkha Earthquake hit the
country on April 25, 2015, the Development Committee under the
Legislature-Parliament had directed it on March 22, to utilize the fund within
a month.
One-and-a-half months after the
House panel directed the government regarding the implementation of the fund,
there has been no progress so far.
Chief executive officer of the
National Reconstruction Authority (NRA) Dr. Govinda Raj Pokharel has been
urging the government to activate the fund at the earliest.
The MoF said that the fund would
be materialised in the next fiscal year which will begin on July 16.
Talking to The Rising Nepal, joint-secretary at the MoF said that as many
policy provisions, needed to be made in order to activate the fund, would be created
in the budget of the coming fiscal, it would be easy to activate the fund then after.
According to the Act, a separate
fund for reconstruction will be established, where money received from the
government, the Prime Minister Disaster Relief Fund, organizations,
associations or individuals and other sources would be deposited.
After the establishment of such
fund, the NRA can mobilise fund in a hassle-free way as the money in the Fund
will not freeze. However, the Financial Comptroller General Office (FCGO) will monitor
the income and expenditure of the fund.
The NRA had already prepared the
Reconstruction Fund Management and Operation Procedure in 2016.
According to the procedure, the
income and expenditure of foreign cash or logistics support from the donors
should also be included in the annual financial report which the reconstruction
body submits to the government.
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