The World Bank, a Washington, DC-based multilateral lending institution, has expressed commitment to provide additional assistance to support Nepal’s post-earthquake housing reconstruction grant distribution drive, if the government maintains the current momentum in distribution of aid to those whose houses were destroyed by last year’s devastating earthquakes.

Qimiao Fan, World Bank Country Director for Bangladesh, Bhutan and Nepal, made the commitment during a meeting with Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal on Thursday.

During the meeting, Fan welcomed the progress in the distribution and monitoring of housing reconstruction grants, the bank said in a statement. He also complimented the leadership of the National Reconstruction Authority in accelerating first tranche payments to eligible beneficiaries and suggested the government expedite programmes beyond rural housing to utilise the reconstruction assistance that development partners collectively pledged during the post-earthquake international conference last year.  

Noting the importance of connectivity in Nepal’s challenging terrain, Fan also offered to continue World Bank support for rural and strategic roads. On energy, Fan said improvements in the institutional and policy environment would enable the World Bank Group to scale up its assistance in this critical area.

Nepal can expect a potential increase in concessional financing for the period 2017-2020, he explained, provided that the government can improve the quality of its development spending by addressing issues around financial management, procurement, contract management and project staffing.