July 30: Infrastructure experts have suggested the government to keep the national interest in centre while receiving foreign loan and grants for infrastructure projects.    
Speaking at a programme organized by the Centre for Social Inclusion and Federalism on Friday, the experts made it clear that donor agencies were imposing their interest while extending assistance all because of weak the bargaining capacity of government employees. The loan and assistance must be received by keeping national interest in centre, they underscored.    
On the occasion, former secretary Lal Shankar Ghimire made it clear that no donor agency extends assistance without any interest.

"In a way or other, there is certainly interest in 80 percent of foreign assistance to Nepal. So, there is no difference between loan and grants," Ghimire said, arguing that we failed to take a strong stance while receiving foreign loan and grants.    

The former secretary wondered why we take foreign grants and loan as achievement while it takes at least one to five years to complete the loan and grants cycle.    
Similarly, former secretary of the Government of Nepal Dipendra Nath Sharma said that the National Planning Commission needs to monitor infrastructure projects effectively.

“An effective monitoring of implementation of project within timeframe, and accountability among concerned agencies for project implementation is imperative,” he said arguing that the Public Procurement Office was not functioning up to the mark.    
Similarly, Director at IIDS, Sucheta Pyakurel, said the economic indicators were not negative. It can be taken as political dimension as well. She however said, "Nepal is an economically weak country, where the project built on foreign assistance makes it weaker."    
Government's economic status should be considered while accepting foreign assistance for infrastructures, she suggested.    
Former officer for external affairs at World Bank, Rajiv Upadhyay, opined that resource was shrinking recently. Global geopolitics was getting centered on economy, he added. Similarly, he informed that the military budget was increasing in most of the countries.    
During the event, a report on 'China's Emergence on Nepal's Infrastructures: Status, problems and Challenges' was also presented. -- RSS