The government will conclude the PDNA with active participation of the donors by June 10, participate in international donors’ conference by June 22 and introduce the budget by July 8.  

The PDNA will build on the assessments currently being undertaken at the national and local levels and include funding implications for the restoration of livelihoods, the economy and services and rehabilitation and reconstruction of housing and infrastructure. 

Specifically, it will assess the socio-economic impacts of the earthquakes and identify priority needs for affected households and critical sectors of the economy with a particular focus on resilient recovery and reconstruction activities with indicative costs. 

A high-level team oversight mechanism led by the NPC Vice-chairman and a Core Coordination Group headed by the NPC and supported by a technical team of experts from the government and the donors will be formed for the PDNA.

With Japan, a key donor, promising to hold an international conference to help Nepal generate resources from development partners, the government wants such a conference held before the presentation of the budget for the next fiscal year. 

“Based on the resource commitment from the donors, we can decide how much resource to be allocated for the reconstruction and rehabilitation purposes in the budget,” said Finance Minster Ram Sharan Mahat addressing the representatives of the donors at the government-donor meeting here on Friday. 

Although the government has sent teams to assess the damages caused by the quakes, the Finance Ministry’s initial estimate based on reports so far shows damages of more than $5 billion. “We have limited resources but the task ahead in reconstruction and rehabilitation is huge,” said Mahat.

The government that has already announced $2 billion National Reconstruction Fund by allocating $200 million from its coffer is expecting to generate rest of the amount from the donors.

NPC Vice-chairman Govinda Raj Pokharel said the NPC has sent members of assessment teams in 600 village development committees and it has mobilised 200 engineers to assess the damages. 

The donors have said they have taken note of the timeframe envisaged by the government to conclude the PDNA so as to be able to inform the upcoming budget due on July 15 as well as facilitate the planned Donor conference. 

World Bank Country Manager Takuya Kamata said a recent meeting of the donors agreed to ensure a complete ownership of the government in the PDNA process and cooperation of relevant line ministries and departments.

He said the NPC together with the PDNA partners are in consultation to finalise the scope and modalities of the PDNA with a view to launch the exercise at the earliest possible date. According to the NPC, it has sought the technical assistance from donors in the PDNA process.

Meanwhile, representatives from other donors said they were ready to extend helping hand to Nepal in this crisis. A representative from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said it was ready to provide monetary support to Nepal for possible balance of payments deficit as a result of the earthquake. 

“We are currently preparing a macro-economic chapter of PDNA in partnership with the World Bank,” said the IMF representative. 

Besides physical damages, the quakes have also hit the economy hard with the services sector activities largely halted. Tourism, transport, foreign trade have been affected, according to the the Finance Ministry. Revenue collection has dived significantly after the quake, it said.

On the occasion, another donor representative stressed on the need for providing shelters and maintaining hygiene and they were ready to support the government in this regard. 

Japanese representative said Japan wanted to hold international conference for Nepal based on the PDNA report, in partnership with other donor agencies.