Even as the government is struggling to transform donors’ pledges for post-earthquake reconstruction into reality, National Reconstruction Authority’s (NRA) recovery and reconstruction works will largely be funded by the donors’ money.

Of the total Rs545 billion proposed by NRA for the next four years for reconstruction works, Rs410 billion will come from the donors.

Besides on-budget expenditure of Rs91 billion for fiscal year 2015-16, NRA plans an additional on-budget expenditure of Rs450 billion over the next three fiscal years for recovery and reconstruction, according to recently-launched Post Disaster Recovery Framework (PDRF) report. 

This means, the public expenditure will be Rs545 billion over the next four years, of which the government will mobilise Rs135 billion from domestic sources. 

This plan however, does not include “off-budget” resources—contributions from some donors and international organisations that are not transferred to the government fund. 

International aid commitments realised as of March 2016 is almost 30 percent of the total pledged amounts, according to the Finance Ministry. 

Of the Rs410 billion pledges received during the donors’ conference, Rs120 billion has already been committed. 

The remaining Rs290 billion is expected to be mobilised over the next three years and will be essential to the fulfilment of plans and accomplishment of recovery and reconstruction goals. 

NRA officials, however, say the challenge for the recovery and reconstruction is implementation and execution of programmes rather than funds availability. “Implementation depends upon the ability of government officials appointed at the local-level,” said Bhisma Kumar Bhusal, deputy spokesperson for NRA.     

In developing the PDRF, more than 400 projects related to recovery and reconstruction have been identified, which have already been, or are being, carried out, according to the report. 

The government has funded the majority of these activities, augmented by the support of key national and international development partners.

“Post-earthquake recovery has begun as the result of these financial commitments, as can be seen in earthquake-affected areas,” read the report. 

“Projects with committed funds that are already underway or completed include the rehabilitation and reconstruction of roads and water systems and the short-term conservation of numerous heritage sites.”