2023-12-06

Funding Agency: Asian Development Bank
Client: Ministry of Finance, Government of Nepal
Date: April 2013 – May 2016

Component I: Bond Market Development

The project will work primarily on development of bond market in Nepal by strengthening the institutional capacity for public debt management with core focus on installment of public debt management office (PDMO) within Ministry of Finance (MOF) which also comprises of development of sustainable operational plan in terms of physical, human and financial infrastructures; installing appropriate technology platform (software and database); and capacity development of other related entities like Financial Comptroller General’s Office (FCGO), Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) and MoF itself. The market access and government security issuance strategies will also be developed under this component along with development of comprehensive bond market infrastructure and building the institutional and regulatory capacity of SeBON by providing appropriate training and such capacity development programs. 

Component II: Development of PPP Framework

This component will focus on creation of an enabling PPP policy framework, including the inputs provided for strengthening the draft report in Nepal PPP White Paper 2011. The project will support establishing and institutionalizing a central PPP unit within National Planning Commission and provide capacity development to develop a comprehensive PPP policy framework applicable for all line ministries, assessment of related laws and regulations, developing manuals and handbooks covering the environmental and social aspects of such frameworks, developing coordination mechanism among the line ministries and capacitating the related units.

Component III: Development of PPP demonstration project

The project will provide technical support to the government in identifying and developing a pilot PPP project (Prioritizing a potential project of modest scope and complexity) from conceptualization to bid stage, including by (i) identifying, screening and short-listing appropriate candidate PPP projects; (ii) undertaking a pre-feasibility assessments of the candidate projects based on a set of agreed criteria; (iii) selecting a demonstration project based on priorities and cost allocation; (iv) conducting a feasibility study (including financial, accounting and tax, technical and commercial structuring of the selected demonstration project), (v) conducting stakeholder consultations; (vi) preparing project documents and contracts, and (vii) preparing bidding documents.

Overall Services provided:

TMS was responsible for overall management and implementation of the project and its activities. The macroeconomic perspectives including the practical Nepalese legal and regulatory essence were provided for the establishment of PDMO including the institutionalization of IT platform, development of operational and business plans, road maps and long term strategies. TMS also provided the legal and actual know how for the preparation of PPP policy and standardized frameworks. This framework was then used to shortlist and select a demonstration project and implementing the same. This was done through standard procurement process initialing from conducting the feasibility study through stakeholders’ consultation, preparation of complete project documents and contracts and preparing the bidding documents (EOI, RFP etc). The project management role of TMS was required to constantly review the project progress and status against the predefined and agreed milestones, monitor and evaluate the activities, and coordinate with the client and ADB while also updating them about the project’s status. Similarly, continuous accounting and auditing inputs were provided by the TMS to review and check the financial flow.