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Kathmandu Wednesday November 22, 2000 Mangshir 07, 2057.
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No approval yet
With reference to the news story titled
" ADB commits Melamchi funds" ( TKP Nov 21,2002), let me clarify some points in
the story: The landmark that was reached last Saturday in Manila was the successful
conclusion of the loan negotiations for the $ 120 million loan in support of Melamchi, not
the approval of the actual loan. The agreement reached between the negotiating teams from
His Majesty’s Government of Nepal (HMGN) and ADB now have to be reviewed and endorsed
by higher authorities on both sides. Only once this is received will the proposed loan be
forwarded to the ADB’s Board of Directors for their consideration. All being well,
the ADB Board will consider the loan towards the end of December 2002. Only after ADB has
approved the loan can we actually talk in terms of approval or the actual commitment of
funds by ADB.
Nonetheless, as I have indicated on a number
of other occasions, ADB remains strongly committed to Melamchi. This is the main reason
why we recent agreed to increase our proposal loan amount from $100 million to $120
million so as to fill the remaining financing gap on the tunnel component, since without
filling this financial gap there was no prospect of the project moving forward.
As the article indicated, there are a lot of
other landmarks that will need to be crossed before HMGN can move forward with full
implementation of Melmachi. These include, formal agreements with all other donors on
their funding for different components of the Project as well as the appointment of the
private operator for water supply distribution. Nonetheless, we remain confident that with
a strong commitment from all sides the dream of Melamchi will become a reality even though
it will unfortunately still be some years before the project will be finished and relief
will be brought to the long-suffering consumers of the Valley.
R Vokes
Resident Representative
ADB/NRM |
