Aid Disbursements: Mid-West, Far-West largest recipients of aid money
KATHMANDU, MAR 20 -
Limping back to normalcy after the ravages of a decade-long conflict, western Nepal is slowly beginning to appear on donors’ radar. The country’s Mid West and Far West regions, known more for regular food shortages and roadless isolation, are now the largest recipients of donor money.
The Finance Ministry’s Development Cooperation Report 2010-11, report shows that the Mid West and Far West regions received more than US$ 120 million and US$ 104 million in fiscal 2010-11 in donor aid. In absolute terms, the Central Region received the highest amount of foreign aid worth US$ 141 million.
The Central and Eastern regions were the priority regions for the government till a few years ago, and most of the development programmes and projects were confined to these parts of the country.
However, the decade-long fighting changed all that. The Mid West and Far West were the hot spots of the Maoist conflict, and the impoverished region received a more severe battering than other parts of the country. And with the conflict ended, donors have begun to look at the far-flung districts with a sense of urgency.
In terms of per capita disbursement of foreign aid, the Far West tops the chart followed by the Mid West. The disbursements per capita aid flow shows that the regions with the highest levels of poverty are also the ones which received the most assistance from donors. The Far West and Mid West are the ones that are suffering from the highest poverty ratio.
The report shows that 45.61 percent of the population in the Far West and 31.68 percent in the Mid West are living under the poverty line compared to the national average of 25 percent.
“It is natural that foreign aid is concentrated in the Far West and Mid West as we all know that these regions are in the most disadvantageous position,” said Dipendra Bahadur Kshetry, vice-chairman of the National Planning Commission. Darchula has 23 projects where donors have invested more than US$ 23 million. Likewise, Kalikot has 37 projects, Dailekh 42 projects, Dadeldhura 41 projects, Bajhang 38 projects and Humla 29 projects.
According to the report, eight of the 10 districts that received the highest amount of foreign aid per capita are from the mountainous areas in the Far West and Mid West. Darchula, Dolpa, Mugu, Humla, Kalikot, Dadeldhura, Bajhang and Dailekh are among the top 10 recipients of foreign aid. Manang and Mustang are the only exceptions that have come under the bracket of the top 10 highest foreign aid receiving districts, according to the report. However, the report admitted that some districts were not getting the huge amount in absolute terms but it looked high due to the small size of the population.
Some districts also saw a high level of per capita foreign aid due to big hydroelectric projects being built here such as the Chameliya Hydroelectric Project in Darchula and the Rahughat Hydropower Project in Myagdi.
The government too has upped its resources for these two regions for the current fiscal year. According to the District Level Annual Development Programme published by the National Planning Commission, the Far West has been allocated Rs 10.53 billion, up from Rs 6 billion last fiscal year. The Mid West has received Rs16.68 billion, up from Rs 14.38 of last fiscal year.
Source: Kantipur
