KATHMANDU, April 22: The government, in an austerity measure, has decided to scrap the projects that did not start their work by mid-April.

According to the Ministry of Finance (MoF), the government has decided not to take forward the projects that have not started their preliminary work. “The government’s decision will affect a number of new projects that have been earmarked with Rs 20 billion investments,” said an official of the MoF.

The government has adopted austerity measures to curtail the public expenditure as it faces a heavy shortfall in revenue collection against the targeted amount. In the first nine months of the current fiscal year, the revenue collection has been almost Rs 350 billion less than the target.

For the current fiscal year, the government had set the revenue collection target of Rs 1.403 billion. However, the collection stood at only 49.29 percent of the amount as of the first nine months.

In order to meet the revenue collection target, the government should have collected Rs 1.044 trillion by mid-April. However, the actual collection amount was only Rs 691.66 billion, shows the records with the Financial Comptroller General Office.

Citing the acute shortfall of the financial resources, the government a few months ago enforced the austerity measures announcing to curtail expenses in a number of categories. According to the MoF source, the ministry has already shortlisted the projects and has sent a circular to the line ministries not to take forward projects that are not of high priorities for now.

Meanwhile, the MoF has asked the authorities concerned not to organize seminars and conferences on state’s expenses. In addition, the ministry has also halted completely releasing funds under 22 subheads.  

 
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