At the bimonthly meeting with Finance Minister Shankar Prasad Koirala on Sunday, secretaries concerned over increasing trend of owners demanding exorbitant compensation for land to be acquired by the projects. They also demanded procedural flexibility and simplification in public procurement system.
“Participating secretaries raised issues like land acquisition, compensation, clearance of trees in project areas and impractical provisions in existing public procurement systems in the meeting,” Ram Saran Pudasaini, joint secretary at the Ministry of Finance, told Republica.
Pudasaini, who is heads the Monitoring and Evaluation Division of the Ministry of Finance (MoF), said Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport, and Ministry of Energy are frequently facing such problems.
Lack of coordination among consumer groups, local government offices and private sector over the excavation of construction materials at local level have been identified as another major obstacle in project implementation.
At the meeting, Minister Koirala directed secretaries to take full responsibility for effectively implementing the programs announced in the budget. He also cautioned the secretaries that upcoming festivals and Constituent Assembly (CA) election might disrupt implementation of development programs. “You must complete the process of appointing contractors for projects within mid-December by approving all the programs within a couple of days,” he added.
Dr Rabindra Man Shakya, vice-chairman of the National Planning Commission (NPC), urged secretaries to give special attention to implementation of the national pride projects.
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