Kathmandu, Dec. 8
The National Planning Commission (NPC) and Prime
Minister’s Office (PMO) have expressed dissatisfaction over the poor progress
of large development projects.
In the second day of the ongoing pre-National
Development Action Committee (NDAC) meeting, they also criticised the line
ministries for dismal status of capital mobilisation.
The pre-NDAC is reviewing the progress made by various
ministries in the first four months of the current Fiscal Year 2020/21.
Vice-Chairman of the NPC Prof. Dr. Pushpa Raj Kandel expressed
concerns over the below par performance of the development projects and
concerned ministries this year.
Members of the planning body that were present in the
virtual meetings also said that the achievements made by the 11 ministries that
presented their progress report on Monday and Tuesday couldn't be said
encouraging. However, Ministry of Youth and Sports and Ministry of Energy,
Water Resources and Irrigation had performed well compared to their peers.
The Ministry of Water Supply (MoWS) has performed the
worst with just 5.23 per cent financial progress in the first four months this
year. The ministry's financial achievement in the last fiscal 2019/20 was just
46 per cent.
Dr. Kandel said that the MoWS had not completed even
those tasks that it had earlier promised to conclude by now and lamented that
it was functioning as the ministry for the Kathmandu Valley only.
The PMO also criticised the line ministries for their
poor performance.
Secretary of the PMO Khagaraj Baral said that the
progress of the airports in Bhairahawa and Pokhara was not as expected.
"Let's not sit idle showing coronavirus as an excuse. We have the
projects, budget and the plan. It is useless to name a project a ‘pride project’
for years," he said.
The Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation has
five pride projects – airports in Bhairahawa, Pokhara and Nijgadh, and
Pashupati Area and Lumbini development trusts.
Commenting on the progress made by the Ministry of Forests and Environment (MoFE), Dr. Kandel suggested to immediately resolve the challenges that come in the way of development projects.
The MoFE had mobilised just half of the budget
allocated for the four month period.
Similarly, the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and
Supplies (MoICS) had given priority to the formulation of laws and policies in
the past four months. "Some of the legal provisions had barred us to
mobilise the budget in the desired areas. The formulation of new laws will
facilitate us in increasing the expenditure in the next four month," said
Dr. Baikuntha Aryal, Secretary of the ministry.
However, member of the NPC Dr. Ram Kumar Phunyal said
that the MoICS had just monitored the market in a ritualistic manner and it had
less impact on discouraging the malpractices.
The NPC has urged the ministries to improve the
capital expenditure performance immediately. Likewise, Secretary of the
Ministry of Finance Shishir Kumar Dhungana assured additional financial
provision for projects, if necessary.
The MoWS, MoCTCA, MoFE, MoICS, Ministry of Agriculture
and Livestock Development and Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social
Security had presented their progress report on Tuesday.
Earlier on Monday, Ministry of Physical Infrastructure
and Transport, Ministry of Defence, MoEWRI, Ministry of Women, Children and
Senior Citizen and MoYS had presented their reports.
Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 9 December 2020.
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