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Govt for wrapping up projects
KATHMANDU, JUN 13 -
The new budget will focus on completing ongoing projects instead of starting new ones as the budget allocated for new projects has remained unspent due to lack of adequate homework to launch them.
"There is no plan on the part of the ministry to start big development projects in the next budget for the fiscal year 2010/11," said Bodh Raj Niraula, joint secretary of the Finance Ministry.
Niraula added that the new budget would manage adequate funds to complete any project that can be completed within the next fiscal year. There is a tendency of allocating a small budget for development projects that can be completed within a short span of time that has delayed project completion in many instances. Projects like the Mid-Hill Highway, Sikta Irrigation, fast track connecting Kathmandu and Nijgadh and about 300 drinking water projects that have remained incomplete will suffer no shortage of funds in the new budget.
The Mid-Hill Highway is making fast progress, said officials. "It is most likely that the highway will be completed within the next fiscal year," said Niraula. That's why the new budget will be allocating around Rs. 2 billion for the project. The government had allocated Rs. 711.7 billion for the current fiscal year.
The fast track project will also get a bigger budget next year, he added. The government had allocated Rs. 250 million for this year.
The Nepal Army has been assigned the job of opening a track for the fast track highway as the government failed to attract the private sector under the build, own, operate and transfer (BOOT) concept.
Another big project, Melamchi, will also get enough budget as it is operating with multilateral funding including the Nepal government and the Asian Development Bank, said Niraula. But the project has been facing problems since its inception leading to an extension of its duration.
Likewise, the ministry said that that postal roads connecting 20 Tarai districts will also have enough resources as they are being built with the resources of the Indian government. However, this project has not been making much headway. Contracts have been signed for eight bridges and they will get enough budget, said Niraula.
The government has also planned to increase the budget to be allocated to the Sikta project. After donors pulled out of the project, the government has been allocating its own budget for the project. Foreign donors backtracked after India mounted pressure on them saying that the project would create a water crisis in India.
The ministry said that the project was moving ahead smoothly and that it had already disbursed an additional Rs. 500 million for it. The government has also started a multi-year contract system to ensure early completion of development projects.
Posted on: 2010-06-14 07:39
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