E-Kantipur

KATHMANDU, MAY 20 - Some 861 drinking water and sanitation projects across the country are in limbo for the last six years thanks to ineffective government policy and monitoring mechanism.

Initiated under the Local Infrastructure Development Policy of the Ministry of Local Development (MoLD), these projects are expected to cater drinking water to at least 7,24,227 people across the country.

Of the 861 drinking water projects, 287 were handed over to the MoLD by the Ministry of Physical Planning and Works in the Fiscal Year 2060/61 and 574 were imitated by the local bodies. Twenty-three of these drinking water projects are within Kathmandu Valley.

Although the government has already spent Rs. 3 billion to accomplish these projects, none of them has been completed. 

MoLD officials say flaws in the government policy and lack of regulatory mechanism led to the pathetic condition of these projects. The government decision to allocate budget to these projects on installment basis was the main reason behind delay in construction work, according to Dinesh Kumar Thapaliya, spokesman at the MoLD. The government has been allocating approximately Rs. 50 million for these projects on a yearly basis for the last years.

“The government should have allocated budget in bulk and completed certain projects each year on a priority basis,” said Thapaliya, dubbing the government decision wrong. “The investment so far has become fruitless.” The funds have either ended bulging some employees’ pockets or been spent for nothing, he adds.

Thapaliya, however, assured that the government is coming up with a new plan from the coming fiscal year.

Currently, out of its total Rs. 35 billion budget, MoLD mobilises Rs. 12 on its own, while the remaining funds are transferred to either local body offices or other departments under the ministry. 

“The ministry will launch some programmes to bring discernible changes in locals’ lives, and also the budget will be allocated depending on local bodies’ work performance.” Thapaliya said they have proposed allocating Rs. 3 billion for drinking water projects in the budget of the coming fiscal year.

“We will take initiatives ourselves and complete all the drinking water projects within the next two years,” he claimed.  

Posted on: 2010-05-20 08:46

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