IFC helps Nepal in developing licensing e-portal

KATHMANDU  Aug 27, 2012

IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, has partnered with the government to introduce a business license e-portal, which provides one-stop solution to accumulate information on licensing requirements for conducting different business activities in the country.

The portal, www.licenseportal.gov.np, hosted by the Nepal Information Technology Center, provides a comprehensive inventory of 130 licenses and related information on starting and operating a business in Nepal.

The South Asia Enterprise Development Facility, managed by IFC in partnership with the UK government and the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation, is supporting this initiative, states an IFC statement.

“The e-portal will encourage owners of new businesses in remote areas to obtain business licenses, and motivate owners of previously established informal businesses to register, given the new ease of doing so,” the statement quoted Keshab Man Shakya, Minister of Science, Technology and Environment, as saying.

The portal will help Nepali entrepreneurs, including non-resident and foreign investors, to get all official information required to apply for business licenses without having to visit different offices, saving considerable time and money.

“The e-portal will improve government services to businesses, enhance transparency, and create an enabling environment for local businesses to grow and thrive,” said Pavol Vajda, IFC´s Acting Resident Representative in Nepal.

Source: Republica

Govt to request WB for dev policy loan

KATHMANDU, MAY 22, 2012

The government is all set to request the World Bank (WB) to provide assistance under the Development Policy Loan (DPL) which the latter proposed recently.

The global lender had urged the government to take DPL worth $100 million for bringing reforms in the financial sector. A Finance Ministry official said the ministry will soon send a formal request to the WB.

WB provides DPL as quick-disbursing assistance to countries needing external financing to support structural reforms in the economic sector and the economy as a whole.

Initially, the bank had proposed that Nepal accept assistance to inject liquidity in financial institutions facing liquidity crunch. However, after improvements in the liquidity situation, the WB made the new proposal.

As the DPL proposal has been made by the WB itself, Nepal’s request to the lender will just be a ‘formality’, according to the official. The proposed loan of $100 million is the sum of the unspent aid amount that the bank had pledged to Nepal in the past.

As per the WB proposal, the Finance Ministry will have to establish a separate bank restructuring unit to look after the banking sector. “They are yet to clarify the logic behind establishing such a unit,” said a senior ministry official.

However, an official at the WB office in Nepal said the formation of the unit was suggested not a condition for the loan, but a suggestion to bring reforms in the Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) based on past experiences. “NRB, being an implementing agency of its own re-engineering programme, faced many troubles in the decade-long financial sector reform programme. Hence, such a mechanism was sought,” said the WB official.

Other components of DPL are second round of restructuring of the stated-owned Rastriya Banijya Bank and Nepal Bank Limited. Introduction of the new Bank and Financial Institution Act (BAFIA), whose bill is under consideration at the parliament and introduction of the Micro-Finance Act with a provision of a separate regulatory body are other components of the pledged support. These were also the part of the previous financial reform programme which ended in December 2011.

“Regarding the restructuring of the two banks, we rejected some conditions for the loan which sought micro-management of the WB on certain measures,” said the ministry official. The WB has also incorporated the issue of conducting diagnostic reviews of banks and financial institutions under DPL, according to a senior NRB official.

The central bank has already started the diagnostics review of some banks and financial institutions.

Source: The Kathmandu Post

Govt changes tack against political pressure

KATHMANDU, May 18, 2012

The government has decided to adopt a new policy on bridge constructions, under which it will soon segregate the total demand for construction of bridges under different categories and prioritize only bridges that are genuinely important and needed.

The new initiative has been taken mainly because the haphazard construction of local roads in different election constituencies in the interest of politicial leaders started generating pressure on the government to build bridges on such roads as well.

"Given the soaring demand for construction of bridges on such politically-inspired roads, we are neither able to focus properly on the construction of strategic and significant bridges nor ensure that the budget allocated for bridges is used meaningfully," said a source at the Ministry of Physical Planning and Works (MoPPW).

Given such a situation, the government had decided to adopt a more efficient Bridge Management System (BMS) for the prioritization of bridge constructions. With support from the World Bank it has already developed software for BMS, which will rank all the demands for bridges received from different parts of the country after analyzing the ground realities and strategic importance.

"BSM is advanced technology. It will help us prioritize the necessity of bridges in any given area," Krityanand Thakur, project chief at the Bridge Project at the Department of Roads (DoR), told Republica. He added that it will for the first time establish a standard assessment and prioritization system in the country.

Adoption of the new system will enable DoR to systematically handle undue pressure coming from political leaders to construct bridges in their own constituencies. If their needs prove genuine, their requests will be picked up, otherwise not.

"We were compelled to use 75 percent of the total budget for bridge projects allocated this year to implement projects that political leaders pressed for," said the same source, indicating that only 25 percent of about Rs 4.6 billion that MoPPW spent so far has gone into the construction of important bridges.

Officials said they are planning to implement the new system from the upcoming fiscal year. However, MoPPW will be able to implement its decision only if the government and the World Bank ink a roads project agreement within this fiscal year. "The World Bank has agreed to provide from next fiscal year a certain percent of the total required cost for the construction of bridges that fall within the national strategic road network," Thakur said.

In order to avoid undue political pressure, which dilutes DoR´s focus, the government has also decided to task it only with the development of bridges in the national strategic road network. "DoR will not be handling bridges on local roads that have just been laid out in different electoral constituencies," Thakur said.

Source: Republica