World Bank to Support Development of Hydropower in Nepal

The World Bank will work together with the Japanese government and the International Finance Corporation (IFC) to support Nepal on the development of hydropower sector.

“The government of Japan has said it would soon provide US$ 150 million for developing Tanahu Hydropower development project,” said Finance MiniterBarsha Man Pun, who returned from the 67th annual meeting of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank group in Tokyo.

Pun said on Wednesday that the World Bank and IFC have shown keen interest to also invest in development of transmission lines in Nepal-India border area. He further added that the World Bank was ready to speed up the work of Kabeli Hydroelectric project.

Interacting with the press at the TribhuvanInternationa Airport, Finance Minister Pun said the government would soon endorse a ´common economic agenda (CEA), bringing all opposition parties on board, for announcing the full-fledged budget for the fiscal year 2012/13.

“We will not bring a full-fledged budget without a political consensus. Rather the government is working on CEA with the help of senior economists,” Pun said.Pun also said the government was acting cautiously to avoid the confrontation with other political parties so that it could come up with much-needed fiscal policies at the earliest.

The government has formed a team of economists affiliated with all major political parties and also independent experts to develop the CEA. “Our belief is; the CEA developed by the team of economists will be agreeable for all the political parties,” Pun said. “As a finance minister, I also request the top leaders of all the political parties to forge a consensus on full-fledged budget and CEA.”