Kathmandu, January 13

The government, so far, has secured 23 per cent of the funding pledges made by development partners during the International Conference on Nepal’s Reconstruction (ICNR).

The development partners had pledged to extend $4.11 billion — $1.97 billion in grant and $2.14 billion in soft loan — during the ICNR, which was held on June 25 to brief donor agencies about damage and losses caused by earthquakes of April and May.

Of this amount, pacts worth $956.07 million — $91.94 million in loan and $864.13 million in grant — have been signed between the government and development partners, National Authority on Reconstruction (NAR) revealed today.

So far, the highest funding commitment of $508.83 million has been made for the housing sector.

World Bank (WB) and International Development Association (IDA), the WB’s Fund for the Poorest, have pledged to chip in $200 million each in loan for reconstruction of houses damaged by the quakes.

Also, Japanese government has expressed commitment to extend $98.83 million in loan, while Chinese government has pledged to give $10 million in grant to rebuild houses destroyed by quakes.

Despite receiving these commitments, the NAR has not been able to make use of these funds as it is yet to conduct detail damage assessment of private houses destroyed by quakes.

NAR CEO Sushil Gyawali today said construction of model residential houses would begin in at least five districts from March 25. NAR has so far approved designs of 17 quake-resistant residential houses.

The quakes had completely destroyed around 591,647 private houses.

Similarly, Asian Development Bank (ADB) has entered into pact with the government, pledging to extend $200 million in loan to rebuild school, roads and office buildings damaged or destroyed by quakes. The ADB has also expressed commitment to extend another $15 million in grant to rebuild schools and restore livelihood of quake victims.

Among others, Japanese government has expressed commitment to extend $115.3 million in loan to rebuild schools and another $32.94 million in grant to support education, health, water and sanitation sectors. Germany has pledged to provide $34 million in grant to rebuild cultural and heritage sites and support energy, health sectors.