World Bank pumps in millions for energy, agriculture sectors

The government of Nepal and the World Bank signed two agreements here today, amounting to $109.2 million to boost the nation’s development, especially in energy and agriculture sectors.
Finance Secretary Rameshore Khanal and World Bank Country Director for Nepal Susan Goldmark inked the agreement, which will provide $89.2 million in addition to aid package for the Power Development Project that will help implement the Energy Crisis Management Action Plan. Another, $20 million has been allocated for the implementation of the Project for Agriculture Commercialisation and Trade (PACT).
Nepal is in the midst of an unprecedented energy crisis that has had a cascading impact on all aspects of the economy. The nation has declared a “national energy crisis” in light of last winter’s acute shortfall of power.
"It is clear that chronic power shortages will continue to be a defining feature of life in Nepal for several years to come. The World Bank is stepping up its assistance to help Nepal minimise economic impacts and hardships in the short-term as well as to implement medium to long-term development plans," said Goldmark. "In the absence of a concerted scale-up of both grid-supplied and off-grid power, Nepal will continue to be burdened by a heavy reliance on costly, and often polluting, alternative means for meeting the demand for electricity,” she explained.
The additional financing will include investments in rehabilitation of the Kali Gandaki 'A' Hydro Electric Plant (HEP) — the biggest in the country — as well as two existing thermal plants in Duhabi and Hetauda. It will also finance construction of the 220KV Bharatpur-Bardaghat transmission line, strengthen the old and severely overloaded distribution network in the Kathmandu Valley and expand the government's off-grid micro-hydro rural electrification programme. These investments are intended to strengthen the nation’s power system by increasing energy production through reduction of down-time at the Kali Gandaki 'A' HEP and make available an estimated 22 MW in the existing thermal plants
The PACT aims to improve the competitiveness of small-hold farmers and agri-businesses in 25 districts. Agriculture, which is predominantly subsistence, contributes 38 per cent to Nepal's gross domestic product (GDP). In a globalised world, agriculture faces several challenges like market orientation, trade promotion and increased investment in the agricultural sector to shore up rural income.
"To harness opportunities in the global market, farmers and other stakeholders must produce and deliver the right commodities at the right time, while maintaining consistently high quality standards. To satisfy the requirements of trade partners and to ensure the competitiveness of Nepali products, food safety and animal health regulations and standards must be actively promoted," said Goldmark.
The PACT aims to help farmer groups and cooperatives engage in profitable market-oriented production and improve access to markets through technology and information services, critical public infrastructure and linkages to agri-business. It intends to create and strengthen industry-wide partnerships along the value chain, forging linkages between producers, traders, processors, and other stakeholders. At present, the World Bank is financing 16 projects in Nepal, whose cumulative worth is around $916 million.