Now more than 5 percent of the total cost of any project cannot be spent on consulting services. Due to the increase in the distortion of spending large amounts of money on consultants, in order to control it, the Foreign Aid Mobilization Policy 2082 issued by the Ministry of Finance stipulates that more than 5 percent of the total cost of infrastructure projects cannot be spent on consulting services.

There is a provision in the policy to seek the approval of the Government of Nepal if more than five percent of the amount is to be spent on consulting. The Ministry has issued a new policy by revising the 'International Development Aid Operational Policy 2076'. In the new policy, the role of the private sector will be further enhanced, foreign aid will be included in the use of the latest financial instruments, and foreign aid mobilization will be made effective in the union, state and municipality. There are provisions related to addressing the financial challenges that may arise after Nepal's status as a developing country, mobilizing other sources of climate finance including the climate fund, and foreign aid. 

According to the national and international perspective, new trends and practices have been established in foreign aid, the structure of foreign aid is also changing due to the financial challenges of the development partners, and the size of foreign aid mobilization at the provincial and local levels is increasing. Dhaniram Sharma, Head of the Foreign Aid Coordination Division, said that a new policy has been issued covering these issues as more clarity on inter-agency and inter-level coordination and cooperation is needed in the mobilization of foreign aid.

'This policy is necessary to make maximum use of the opportunities obtained from the mobilization of foreign aid, to increase partnerships and cooperation between the public, private, community and other sectors to achieve national development goals and to build a strong economy by increasing coordination between the union, state and local levels in the mobilization of foreign aid,' Sharma said. He said that when the recipient country takes the leadership and ownership of foreign aid mobilization, its effectiveness will increase and the new policy will help to achieve efficiency and effectiveness in aid mobilization by converting the principle of mutual accountability that the government and development partners should be accountable to each other and their taxpayers for the success or failure of aid mobilization.

"As far as available and possible, priority should be given to Nepalese citizens or institutions, and international consultants can be mobilized only for the transfer of technology and knowledge and for expertise that is not available at the national level," the policy states, "If the province and local level request through the relevant ministries to mobilize foreign consultants, the ministry can give consent after looking at the need and justification."  In the

policy, there is a provision not to use the loan for anything other than project-related technical assistance. But there is also a provision in the policy to get international and regional technical assistance based on national needs and benefits. Prioritizing unconditional technical assistance, incorporating the assistance into the annual budgets and programs of the federal, provincial and local levels and mobilizing through government funds, implementing projects and programs with foreign aid as far as possible from the existing structure and human resources of the government is also in the policy. 

It is mentioned in the policy that ``generally emphasizing grant aid for project preparation, but in the case of high-return, and income-generating projects, concessional loans can be mobilized based on technical complexity  and availability of resources.

In the new policy, it is said that maximum utilization of available climate finance will benefit Nepal based on the recognition of climate justice. For this, it is also mentioned in the policy that priority should be given to regions and geographies highly affected by climate change in climate finance mobilization and emphasis on grants rather than loans in climate finance mobilization.

"Emphasis on the mobilization of grants from internationally established funds in areas such as education, health, climate change disaster management, and in the event that grants are not available, subsidized loans can be mobilized as needed," the policy states, "There is no need to make a separate agreement with the Social Welfare Council regarding the funds to be mobilized by accessing international funds, the monitoring and evaluation of such projects will be as mentioned in the financial agreement approved by the Government of Nepal." Aid is also sought to be organized. According to which, there is a provision in the policy to use the aid mobilized through non-governmental organizations in an accountable and transparent manner. "Except for the amount of aid allocated by development partners for Nepal, national and international non-governmental organizations collect aid funds at the international level on their own initiative and propose projects through the Social Welfare Council," the policy states.

There is also a provision in the policy that the scope of work of those organizations should be determined on the basis of geography and that administrative expenses should be limited to a maximum of 20 percent of the total cost in projects conducted by international non-governmental organizations. There is a provision in the policy that states and local levels can also mobilize loans and for that the union will facilitate all kinds of things. 

"In the case of grant aid, loan aid and technical assistance under the responsibility of the Government of Nepal, the Ministry of Finance will make a financial agreement and send it to the provincial and local levels for implementation," the policy states, "When agreeing on the loan to be mobilized at the request of the province and local level, the Nepal government can negotiate a subsidiary loan with the relevant level and send it for implementation through the budget and arrange for the payment of the principal and interest of the loan through a separate account as needed."

There is also a provision in the policy that aid must be mobilized through a subsidiary loan agreement with the relevant level. "The amount of grant aid mobilized through the budget system will be sent to the provincial and local levels in the form of conditional grants," the policy states, "The government has taken a policy to flow foreign aid based on projects, according to which priority will be given to economic potential, high rate of return, low operating costs, and innovation while selecting projects." 

Similarly, the government has a policy of facilitating the mobilization of external capital in public nature investment or development funds established by law to compensate for insufficient (low resource) funds for development. There is a provision that the government itself or with the participation of international financial institutions can issue 'onshore' or 'offshore' sovereign bonds with a fixed rate of return to invest in projects related to sustainable development, energy and green development. If the organization that is wholly or mostly owned by the government wants to issue bonds, the Ministry of Finance will also do the 'counter guarantee' work according to the law. 

"Government will provide policy facilitation to invest shares in companies developing transport, energy and industrial infrastructure projects under the leadership of the private sector or to establish an infrastructure fund to provide credit line facilities," the policy states, "aid funds mobilized from development partners for private sector development will be encouraged to be mobilized in areas such as necessary public infrastructure construction and technology transfer." "The relevant ministry must prepare an integrated annual statement of technical assistance and volunteer mobilization mobilized under its ministry and submit it to the Ministry of Finance within two months of the end of the financial year," the policy says, "The responsibility of the project leader for foreign aid must be assigned for the duration of the project." 

It is necessary to identify potential projects that require foreign aid within the province and prepare an integrated project list and send a proposal through the relevant ministry of the Government of Nepal to advance the potential projects of foreign aid that can be mobilized within the province. In the case of aid mobilized through foreign loans according to the province's demand, the principal and interest of the loan will have to be paid by the relevant ministry in accordance with the subsidiary loan agreement. Not using loans for other than technical assistance related to

project  

prioritizing unconditional technical support