PM directs ministers, secretaries to expedite development spending

Prime Minister Puspa Kamal Dahal today directed the government officials and ministers to expedite development spending and prepare criteria for qualifying projects as national pride projects.
Addressing the ministers and secretaries of various ministries during the meeting of National Development Action Committee (NDAC) – the prime minister-led mechanism that looks after the development projects – Dahal asked them to spend at least 80 per cent of the development budget citing there has been no significant progress when compared to the previous fiscal year, which had retarded the economic growth of the country.
Accepting the government’s apathy toward development work, he also directed the ministers and secretaries to prepare unified development plans and implement them accordingly to show the outcomes.
"As we have envisioned moving towards higher growth trajectory to upgrade our status to a middle-income country by 2030, we have to fully implement the budget to achieve the desired results," he said also instructing them to conduct regular monitoring of top priority projects – P1 projects – and introduce ‘carrot and stick’ policy targeting the project chiefs.
Asking them to prepare criteria for qualifying projects as national pride projects, Dahal also directed them to come out with a concrete plan, to complete the national pride projects, within a month.
Prime minister expressed concerns over dismal progress of critical projects including Kathmandu-Tarai fast track, Budhigandaki Hydroelectric Project, Second International Airport in Nijgadh, West Seti Hydro Project and Postal Highway.
The concept of national pride project was first introduced in 2012 in a bid to expedite the construction of schemes considered to be crucial for the country’s sustained development. However, there is no standard process based on which a project is described as ‘national pride’.
Currently, 21 projects have been identified as national pride projects. They include four irrigation projects, three hydropower projects, three international airports, six road projects, an electric railway project, a drinking water project, two projects aimed at promoting the holy sites of Pashupati and Lumbini and an environment conservation project.
The completion of these projects, according to experts, can change the face of Nepal and put it on a high growth trajectory. However, more than half of these projects failed to meet 50 per cent of their performance target in the first four months of the current fiscal year, according to the latest report of the National Planning Commission (NPC).
The Kathmandu-Tarai Fast Track Project, for instance, met only 0.1 per cent each of the physical and financial targets, making it the worst performer in the first four months of this fiscal year.
Likewise, the 1,200-MW Budhi Gandaki Hydroelectric Project has met only 1.1 per cent each of the physical and financial targets. Another worst performing project is the Lumbini Area Development Trust, which has achieved 7 per cent of the physical target and 10 per cent of the financial target.
Some of the common problems faced by these projects are delays in land acquisition, disputes between project officials and locals over the compensation amount offered by the government, unclear relocation and resettlement strategy, lack of coordination among officials and protests launched by their staff.
“Many projects also face problems while conducting Initial Environment Examination (IEE) and Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA),” said NPC vice chair Min Bahadur Shrestha, on the occasion. “We will list all the problems faced by these projects and try to address them by providing them certain benefits as directed by the prime minister," he added.
“If the bureaucracy continues to follow its traditional approach toward development works, we are not going to get any outcome,” the Prime Minister said, asking to change their working culture. "We have to think unconventionally to ramp up the capital expenditure."
Speaking at the meeting, the secretaries of various ministries updated PM Dahal on the progress of development projects being implemented under them.
Earlier in September too, PM Dahal had said that he would personally monitor the implementation status of national pride projects. Addressing the NDAC meeting, Dahal had said that he would prepare the schedule for implementation of concerned projects and monitor their progress.
His instructions, however, failed to speed up development spending. The government has, according to the Financial Comptroller General’s Office (FCGO), been able to spend only 8.89 per cent of the total capital budget by yesterday.
The first half of fiscal year is ending in mid-January. And of the total development budget of Rs 311.94 billion, the government has been able to spend only Rs 27.71 billion by January 1, according to the FCGO. Of the total budget of Rs 1048.92 billion, the government has managed spend only Rs 232.85 billion till yesterday.
The government had tabled the budget – for the current fiscal year 2016-17 – one-and-a-half months before the start of fiscal year calendar to break the trend of slow capital expenditure. However, the situation in the current fiscal year is no better than the last fiscal year.
While the government has not been able to spend, revenue mobilisation has been exceeding the target. As a result, the government treasury is ballooning. The government is sitting on a cash pile which is neither being productive, nor contributing to the economy. Had the government been able to spend, the private sector would have felt encouraged to spend, resulting in capital formation. However, the bulging treasury caused by the government’s inefficiency will hurt the economic growth and slow down capital formation in the coming fiscal years too.