The Gross National Happiness Commission (GNHC) and Austrian Coordination Office signed three separate contract agreements today. The 5.3 M Euros support will be implemented during 2019-2023 by Justice Sector, Druk Green Power Corporation (DGPC) and the Royal Audit Authority (RAA).
The support is part of the Austrian Development Agency’s (ADA) assistance to the 12th five-year plan.
The 4.5 M Euros assistance will help to enhance justice services for vulnerable people and strengthen the capacities of all legal institutions. It will be implemented by nine-justice sectors.
“With the formal signing of the grant agreement today, all the justice sectors will be integrated under this programme under three outcomes- justice service providers are competent and motivated, justice sector services are accessible and inclusive and infrastructure is adequate to deliver justice services more efficiently,” Rinchen Wangdi, the GNHC’s Director, said.
600,000 Euros will be mobilised for the DGPC. It is to develop domestic capacity in the hydropower sector.
“It is to reinforce the already successful installed system of hydropower maintenance and security. Here we are going to improve managerial and engineering skills of the DGPC at the central and decentralized level so that all the hydropower stations could be maintained in a sustainable way and also assessments during the construction planning could be done in a more accurate way at the new hydropower construction sites,” Johannes Binder (PhD), the Resident Coordinator of Austrian Development Cooperation, said.
The remaining 200,000 Euros is for the RAA. The budget will help to build capacity and accountability in diverse and specialised auditing fields like hydropower, gender and performance auditing.
Pema Tshewang
