Kathmandu, December 14

Matthias Meyer, German ambassador to Nepal, has expressed concern over the impact of current border disruptions, which have hit the people in the earthquake-affected districts and the poorer populations particularly hard.

The German ambassador expressed his concerns during an agreement signing ceremony today on special commitments for earthquake rehabilitation amounting to 30 million euros, as per a press statement. The agreement was inked by the German ambassador and Lok Darshan Regmi, secretary at the Ministry of Finance.

Following the programme, Ambassador Meyer appealed all sides to come to a peaceful settlement of their conflicting views for the sake of the people in need. He also urged the government of Nepal to provide adequate institutional mechanisms to the reconstruction process in order to prevent a humanitarian crisis from unfolding in the coming months.

The commitments comprise of two programmes. One is a ‘Financial Cooperation Recovery Programme’ (25 million euros), which is implemented by German Development Bank-KfW on behalf of the government of Germany. This programme will focus on the reconstruction of district hospitals severely damaged by the earthquake, and the reconstruction of rural energy distributions networks. In addition, substantial support under this programme will be directed towards the rehabilitation of cultural heritage sites, schools and roads in the city of Bhaktapur, as per the statement.

The second project is ‘Reconstruction Programme’ (five million euros), which is implemented by German Agency for International Cooperation - GIZ (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit). This project aims at ensuring essential healthcare services, the provision of temporary housing and other urgent needs with a regional focus on Dhading, Nuwakot, Rasuwa and Bhaktapur districts.

In total, the German government has committed 35 million euros for immediate humanitarian relief and rehabilitation measures following the devastating earthquakes. In addition, more than 60 million euros of private donations was mobilised in Germany by non-government organisations, highlighting the particularly close relations and solidarity between the two people, the statement adds.