KATHMANDU, March 18: The government has estimated the cost of reconstruction and management of public assets destroyed during the Gen Z protests on September 8-9 at Rs 36.30 billion.
A cabinet meeting has endorsed an action plan for reconstruction of devastated structures and management of physical assets. The action plan, prepared by the National Planning Commission (NPC), is projected to complete the reconstruction of the destroyed structure of the government offices in the next three years.
During the protests, physical property belonging to government bodies, public institutions, private establishments, and individuals sustained damage worth a total of Rs 84.45 billion. Of the total, the public sector accounted for Rs 44.93 billion, while the private sector incurred losses of Rs 33.54 billion. The community and other sectors suffered damage amounting to Rs 5.97 billion, according to the NPC report.
Under the public sector, the federal government suffered damage worth Rs 29.67 billion, the provincial government Rs 4.49 billion and the local government Rs 9.81 billion. It has been estimated that the federal government will need Rs 24.69 billion, the provincial government Rs 3.74 billion and the local levels will require Rs 7.83 billion to rebuild and manage the damaged structures.
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Tanka Prasad Pandey, spokesperson for the Ministry of Finance, said the government can manage funds for the estimated expenditure from its own sources. According to him, the government has already cut down budget disbursement for the projects that are not feasible to manage necessary funds for reconstruction.
Meanwhile, the government has also planned to provide relief packages under 10 headings to private sector organisations affected by the protests under the work plan prepared by the NPC. These include tax discount, quick release of insurance amount, subsidized loans and rescheduling of loan repayment to the private entities.
According to the action plan, the local level will be requested to waive the map approval fee for the reconstruction of damaged physical structures of the private sector. Likewise, initiatives will be taken to provide property tax exemption for three years to the affected private business establishments depending on the severity of losses.
Similarly, arrangements will be made to provide insurance amount promptly in case of insured structures. In case of liquidity shortage faced by the concerned insurance company, the government has planned to make arrangements for the insurers to take short-term concessional loans from Nepal Rastra Bank, Employees Provident Fund and Citizens Investment Trust.
As per the action plan, the provincial government will be required to waive the tax levied on the depreciation of private vehicles that were completely damaged during the movement.
In addition, arrangements will be made to convert lump-sum credit into installment-based payments for businesses that have taken working capital loans and have undergone a complete shutdown.
Similarly, the government has planned to extend the period for rescheduling and restructuring of loans for affected businesses until the end of the current fiscal year. A 'grace period' will be provided if any private entity requires additional time to restart the business, states the action plan.
According to the action plan, borrowers who wish to take a loan at a fixed interest rate for reconstruction will be provided with a loan for five years, with a premium of only 0.5 percent added to the base rate.
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