KATHMANDU, Feb 20: Minister for Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation Barshaman Pun has said that the development budget spending has not been satisfactory.
Speaking at the 12th National Irrigation Seminar that started from Wednesday in Dhulikhel, Kavre, Pun said development spending in overall government projects was not optimistic and government officials need to be serious on this matter.
The two-day seminar was inaugurated by Pun in the presence of government officials and stakeholders in Kavre. He said that the government will seek reasons on the slowdown in the spending of the development budget which was earlier attributed to political instability, lack of law and protests. “The government was not stable and kept changing in the past. There were complaints about the completion of the development work on time,” he said, “But now the government has been stable for two years. There has been no change in secretaries and director generals and not even office heads have been changed.”
Barshaman Pun leading by 10,000 votes in Rolpa
Mentioning the fact that there have been no protests recently, he questioned the lack of progress in development work. “The slowdown in spending of the development budget is a serious issue and rather than the political and administrative representatives putting blame on each other, they should review the work,” Pun said.
He stipulated that the reason behind the incapability of timely completion of work might be weak working style. “Political leadership is focused on development. There are no problems in it,” he said, adding, “Despite having favorable environment to work, there has been minimal progress and the government officials need to improve their performance.”
Madhukar Prasad Rajbhandari, director general at the Department of Water Induced Disaster Management said the upcoming plan will be prepared on the basis of the conclusion acquired from the seminar.
The seminar has more than 150 participants including representatives from the ministry, Department of Water Resources and Irrigation, National Federation of Irrigation Water User's Association, International Water Management Institute (IWMI), International Development Cooperation and national and international organizations working in the irrigation sector, among others.
