Absence of full budget hitting dev projects hard: Minister

KATHMANDU, SEP 26 -

Minister for Physical Planning, Works and Transport Management Hirdayesh Tripathi on Tuesday said the government’s failure to introduce a full budget has hit development projects hard.

Amid political differences, the government had introduced a partial budget as per the clause 92 of the interim constitution which allows the government agencies to spend one third of the budget spent in previous fiscal year.

“All projects, including big ones such as Mid-Hill Highway, Postal Roads and railway development, have suffered,” said Tripathi, addressing a press conference here on Tuesday.

He added the provision that requires the National Planning Commission’s (NPC) approval for P I, II and III projects further delayed the procedures to projects’ work into the implementation phase.

The government, while unveiling the one-third budget, had assured that big projects would continue smoothly. However, according to Tripathi, they received fewer resources as a majority of projects spent less last year due to hurdles in land acquisition and other problems at the local level.

With the government failing to spend in infrastructure development activities, contractors are also preparing to organise a protest to pressure the government to unveil a full budget for the current fiscal year at the earliest.

The Federation of Contractors Association of Nepal (FCAN) on Tuesday said they would launch a protest immediately after Dashain festival. “We will park all our heavy equipment on Thankot-Naubise and Sanga-Banepa road sections to pressure the government and party leaders,” said FCAN President Jaya Ram Lamichhane. He added no project was in a condition of moving ahead after mid-November.

In this context, Tripathi assured the government would do its bit to bring a full budget. But he said chances of introduction of one third budget for the second time are high.

Talking about the railway development work, Minster Tripathi said construction and preparation of detailed project reports of different sections of the proposed East-West Railway would not move ahead effectively due to the resource crunch and the delay in endorsement of the railway ordinance by the president.

Source: The Kathmandu Post