Expedite development spending

It is unfortunate that the government has announced once again that it has failed to spend the targeted development budget earmarked for the current fiscal year and has downscaled the spending target to Rs 65 billion from Rs 72 billion. This has dealt a severe blow to the public, mainly because the government had managed to get the budget endorsed by parliament on time this year for the first time in three years. The government’s inability to make use of the fund in time has let down commoners who are direly in need of development dividends.



Fundamentally, designs and direction of capital spending reflect the priorities of a nation. If the government cannot use this machinery to effectively meet its development priorities, how can it be trusted to deliver other general services?



This is not the first time the government has missed the target set for development spending. In fact, the practice of allocating unrealistically high capital budget at the time of budget announcement just to be populist and downscaling it during mid-term review has become an annual ritual. The very record of the Ministry of Finance, which shows the government’s failure to utilize foreign aid worth Rs 300 billion till date, has highlighted the weak aid absorption capacity of the country.



In a country where poverty runs deep, public services are scarce and infrastructure and logistical constraints hobble private-sector investment, public spending not only plays a crucial role in overcoming such constraints but also acts as a catalyst to attract private-sector investment. Sadly, instead of endeavoring to give impetus to capital spending, the country, this year, faced new evil practices like ‘ministers demanding pre-contract bribes’ and ‘differences between secretaries and ministers’. This strangling of the development drive is hurting the job creation process and will cost the country dear in the long run. Hence, we urge the government to seriously control such evils.



Apart from that, there exists institutional constraint as well. Over the last couple of decades, the government has simply not strengthened the capacity of agencies executing development projects. For instance, the Ministry of Physical Planning and Works, which was structured, equipped and manned to execute projects within a range of Rs 10 billion about a decade ago, is still operating with the same structure and capacity even though its budget has now jumped to well over Rs 40 billion. There are procedural constraints as well. Fundamentally, these are structural problems, which can only be rectified through reform measures. But introducing reforms is no easy task. It calls for firm political will and commitment. As it is a fundamental duty of the government to address these constraints, we urge the government to act promptly and resolutely to correct the existing weaknesses.

Related story

Provinces have achieved only 1.18 percent progress in developme...