Under the modality, the team will function as a committee within the executing agency. It will have the authority to take all necessary actions to implement the project.
“As the committee will know clearly what its responsibility is and also have the authority to carry out all necessary activities, it will ease grievance handling and make project implementation process focused and effective,” said a source at the Ministry of Finance (MoF).[break]
The new policy will also make the concerned committee and its chief answerable to the government and general public in case of delay in project implementation.
Likewise, under the policy, the government will be implementing projects related with hydropower generation through a company. “The model will work exactly like the Chilime Hydropower Project. Although the project is developed by Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA), it is being handled by an independent and autonomous company,” said the source.
The ministry is adopting the new modality mainly as concerned government ministries and agencies have not been able to steer much-wanted development projects in a desired pace in the absence of specific implementation structure and plan. That has been hurting capital spending and slowing the pace of development.
“It will ease monitoring and put pressure on the designated authority to expedite the development works,” said the source.
With the modality, the government is hopeful of completing national-priority projects like mid-hills highway and Kathmandu-Tarai fast track roads on time.
The source further disclosed that postal roads, being developed with grant assistance from India, will received the bulkiest development budget in the coming fiscal year. The government is allocating around Rs 3.5 billion for the project.
“If the support of the Indian government is to be included, the project will get a total of around Rs 5 billion,” said the source.
The mid-hills highway will get Rs 1.75 billion, becoming the second largest project in terms of budgetary allocations. Kathmandu-Tarai fast track roads will get about Rs 1.5 billion. The government is further allocating around Rs 1 billion for Sikta irrigation project. It is also allocating budget for Indrawati hydropower -- a reservoir type project with production capacity of 100 MW.
“We are also allocating a token budget for Budi-Gandaki Hydropower Project -- the mega reservoir type project,” the source added.
The government is also arranging finances for Bheri-Babai diversion irrigation project and Rani-Jamara -- a farmer-managed irrigation project.
Related story
Govt launches product-specific strategies to enhance export
