By A Staff Reporter
Kathmandu, Sept. 30: The World Bank has approved a USD 150 million project to help Nepal in strengthening service delivery and institutional capacity in strategic secondary cities, and to support the post-COVID-19 economic recovery.
The project will support the municipalities in alignment with federalism principles enshrined in the Constitution of Nepal, the WB said in a press statement issued on Tuesday.
“In the context of rapid urbanisation, federalism and COVID-19, providing support to strengthen local institutions for effective service delivery in Nepal’s secondary cities, and extending targeted support to vulnerable groups affected by the pandemic is critical,” stated Faris Hadad-Zervos, WB Country Director for the Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka.
According to him, the support will help build capacity of key municipalities, enhance local accountability, and accelerate COVID-19 recovery by short-term employment for vulnerable groups as well as service delivery.
The Nepal Urban Governance and Infrastructure Project will support municipalities located in State 1, 2, Gandaki and Province 5.
These municipalities in these regions are key to Nepal’s economic development and are centres for commercial and administrative activities, read the press statement.
Through the creation of Nepal’s’ first dedicated Urban Sector Grant, the project will finance strategic infrastructure in the targeted cities, based on the priorities of the municipalities and their citizens.
The project will also support capacity building of the municipalities for improved urban management and with strong focus on citizen engagement, enabling targeted municipalities to better plan, manage and execute service delivery and urban management activities.
The project will finance small scale labour intensive public works, thus creating temporary jobs for at least 20,000 people across the country, including women and other vulnerable groups.
The project also includes a contingency emergency response component to reallocate project funds to support emergency response and recovery.
“The project is a critical milestone and first World Bank project in Nepal to directly support federalism,” stated Jonas Ingemann Parby, the Project Task Team Leader and Senior Urban Specialist of the World Bank.
He said that the project included best practices in climate resilience, gender equality, social inclusion and citizen engagement, which the federal, provincial and local governments can take on.
The project is fully aligned with government policies and strategies, including the National Urban Development Strategy, and is harmonised with the overall support provided by the government and development partners towards the implementation of federalism in Nepal.