The guideline is expected to restrict authorities forwarding rampant projects in budget announcement

KATHMANDU, Nov 8: The government has enforced Multi-year Contract Work Procedure-2023 with the aim of tackling the problems seen in multiyear projects.

A multi-year project includes large scale, stand-alone projects which will either be constructed over separate calendar years and which cannot be separated into smaller, independently operational phases. In most of the cases, these development projects are seldom completed on time.  

Even as the federal government allocates necessary funds, the majority of the projects under multi-year contracts are moving slowly. Delay in handing over the projects, lack of ownership and human resources have led to slow works on these multi-year contract projects.

According to officials of the Ministry of Finance (MoF) these projects in many cases are kept in budget without ascertaining the source of funds. In addition, they are delayed mostly due to the slow process of awarding the contracts.

Last week, the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) wrote to the government suggesting the authorities put only ready-to-go projects under its listing to get necessary funds. In a 22- point suggestion to the federal, provincial and local governments, the corruption watchdog said several anomalies in budget preparation and execution phases are promoting the misuse of public funds.

Dhani Ram Sharma, joint-secretary of the MoF, said the new guideline has fixed the time period of at least three years for a project to be kept under the category of a multi-year project. “However, the national pride projects will be automatically considered under this type, no matter how long they take for completion of construction.”

In the new rule, such projects should have an estimated cost of at least Rs 500 million. These projects should take approval of the MoF in relation to finalizing their source of funds. The projects need to allocate at least 25 percent of the estimated costs in the beginning of the fiscal year once they are announced in the budget.

The line ministries have been barred from providing more funds beyond the limit set for the given fiscal year. Previously, no such limit was defined for a multi-year project.

As of now, political parties are found rampantly forwarding such projects in budget, just to release a hefty amount from the MoF. Analysts said the new guideline could help end the wrong practices of keeping the projects on budget due to political pressure.

 
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• Ministry_of_Finance