Improved performance key for development results: ADB director general Yokoyama

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) director general for South Asia Kenichi Yokoyama said improved portfolio performance is key for timely delivery of development results and securing higher and sustained concessional resource allocations.

“The Finance Ministry is proactively addressing issues to improve project implementation,” he said, speaking at the opening session of a 2-day country portfolio review meeting organised by the government and ADB to assess the progress of ADB-supported development projects today.

“Nepal needs to achieve at least $350 million to $450 million disbursement per year to be considered for higher concessional resource allocations based on ADB’s performance-based allocation system,” he said, adding that higher disbursement is doable with collective efforts of the government and ADB by pursuing higher implementation disciplines.

Finance Minister Dr Prakash Sharan Mahat chaired a session on sector and project performance, attended by secretaries of the government, senior officials, project directors, and staff from ADB’s Nepal Resident Mission. 

“We appreciate ADB’s support to Nepal’s development over the years,” said the finance minister Dr Mahat. “The government is committed to overcome the challenges related to project implementation and disbursements and improve capital expenditure for development impact on the ground for Nepali people.”

At a special ceremony held in conjunction with the meeting, revenue secretary Ram Prasad Ghimire presented awards to ADB-supported projects for their excellence in effective project management, gender equality, and social inclusion, environmental and social safeguards monitoring. The projects that were awarded include Urban Water Supply and Sanitation (Sector) Project, Bagmati River Basin Improvement Project-Additional Financing, SASEC Highway Improvement Project, Rural Enterprise Financing Project, and Power Transmission and Distribution Efficiency Enhancement Project. 

As of December 31, 2022, ADB’s active portfolio in Nepal stands at around $3.2 billion supporting a broad range of key sectors: energy, transport, agriculture, water and urban infrastructure and services, rural development and natural resources, health, and education, according to the multilateral development partner. 

“In 2022, the overall portfolio performance in Nepal was lower than expected affected mainly due to insufficient project staff and high turnover, challenges in contract management, delays in environmental and land clearances, and disruption of construction supply chain,” said ADB country director for Nepal Arnaud Cauchois. “Following the review, Finance Ministry and ADB will agree on specific actions to overcome the challenges and we are hopeful that project implementation and disbursement will pick up pace.”

Since the start of its operations in Nepal in 1969, ADB has provided about $7.6 billion in financial and technical assistance to the country. 

ADB is committed to achieving a prosperous, inclusive, resilient, and sustainable Asia and the Pacific, while sustaining its efforts to eradicate extreme poverty. Established in 1966, it is owned by 68 members — 49 from the region.

Government launches Tourism Recovery Task Force

 The government today launched Tourism Recovery Task Force (TRTF-Nepal) – along with the ‘visit the country’ campaign – to accelerate the coronavirus-hit tourism industry.

Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Yogesh Bhattarai – also marking the World Tourism Day – launched a domestic tourism promotion campaign #DeshDarshan on the occasion. A dedicated website www. trtfnepal.com also went live from today and series of thematic webinars and programmes are in line to support the recovery campaign, Bhattarai said, addressing the launch ceremony. He also appreciated the private sector for coming together to foster collaborative efforts towards tourism recovery and invited the task force to jointly work with the governments at local, provincial and federal levels. 

On the occasion, tourism secretary Kedar Bahadur Adhikari launched a training manual of the ‘Empowering Rural Destinations’ campaign, which is an initiative by TRTF-Nepal to train and build the capacity of rural destinations with new safety protocols, and food safety and hygiene for community health. “TRTF-Nepal is a joint initiative by PATA Nepal Chapter and SKAL Nepal, which has brought together industry veterans, professionals, and leading global tourism organisations as ‘advisors’,” the ministry informed, adding that the prominent tourism associations have been appointed ‘associational patrons’, the key agencies or organisations working in safety and security concerns of travellers are appointed as ‘health and safety patrons’ and the Nepal Tourism Board (NTB) as ‘industry patron’ to intensify the collective efforts for tourism recovery. 

Former chief executive officer of NTB Deepak R Joshi is the coordinator of the TRTF-Nepal, whereas treasurer and HCD-coordinator for PATA Nepal Chapter Khem Lakai will be the spokesperson. The secretariat of the task force will be handled by PATA Nepal chief executive officer Suresh Singh Budal.

TRTF-Nepal has conducted a survey on industry’s preparedness to restart tourism, prepared infographic communication materials about HHS protocols, collecting and compiling information about successful restarting practices adopted by other countries and destinations.

The task force is expected to coordinate for better collaboration and effective communication with key authorities and organisations, ensuring consistency of messaging with updates in source markets through various channels. 

Earlier, Nepal Tourism Board (NTB) had formed a task force under the public private partnership (PPP) model to study the impact of Covid-19 pandemic on the tourism industry.