In the first seven months of the current fiscal year, different ministries have only used around 14 percent of the Rs 72 billion development budget allocated for them. [break]
For instance, the Ministry of Physical Planning and Works (MoPPW) has only spent 15 percent of Rs 34.57 billion allocated for it. Similarly, the Ministry of Local Development has spent only 10 percent of Rs 7.44 billion allocated to it. Even worse performer is the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives as it has only used 6.6 percent of the development budget of Rs 1.38 billion allocated to it.
“We believe the pace of capital spending would accelerate in the coming months with spending of most of the ministries reaching 90 percent of the development budget allocated for them by mid-July (when financial year ends),” finance secretary Krishna Hari Banskota told journalists on Sunday.
Earlier in February, Prime Minister Dr Baburam Bhattarai had also asked various ministries, executing 11 development projects of national priority, to work fast after detecting slackness in implementation of those projects.
At that time, the PM, among others, had instructed the MoPPW to take immediate steps to complete construction of Kathmandu-Tarai Expressway.
Currently, personnel of Nepal Army have been mobilized to open the track. On Sunday, Banskota said the government has already provided a compensation of Rs 350 million to acquire land required for construction of the mega project.
“We are also looking for investors interested in building the road under build-own-operate and transfer (BOOT) model,” he said, expressing confidence that “there won´t be difficulty in finding such partner as the road will collect toll from those using it and thus has a commercial value”.
The finance secretary, however, acknowledged that the task of opening the track may not complete within this fiscal year because of the slow pace of ongoing works.
Banskota also expressed dissatisfaction over slow progress on Melamchi Drinking Water Project. “So far only 4km long tunnel has been built out of total length of around 28km,” he added.
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