Govt extends contract signing deadline for projects
KATHMANDU:
The Ministry of Finance has extended the contract signing deadline for implementation of various development projects by a month after various ministries dragged their feet in starting the contractor selection process.
Earlier this fiscal year, the finance ministry had asked all government ministries to complete the task of signing agreements with project contractors within mid-December. “But since they failed to do this, we are giving them one-month time to do so,” finance minister Shanker Koirala told a meeting participated by government secretaries and other high-ranking officials in Kathmandu, today.
Most of the ministries have cited the month-long festive season and the Constituent Assembly election as reasons for the delay in appointing contractors. Since the government does not implement projects on its own and has to rely on contractors for the purpose, the delay in signing project contracts has not only pushed back the date of project execution but affected the finance ministry’s capital spending plan.
The government has allocated a budget of Rs 85.10 billion for capital expenditure this fiscal. Most of this money goes towards building of various projects, like road networks, power transmission lines, irrigation and hydropower, that are considered crucial for the country’s development. Yet, in the first five months of the current fiscal year, the government has been able to use only Rs 7.95 billion, or 9.34 per cent, of the total budget allotted for capital expenditure. As a result, Rs 51.72 billion was sitting in government coffers as of the beginning of December, official statistics show.
“We want various ministries to make efficient use of the capital budget as soon as possible as this spending will have a multiplier effect on the economy and contribute to the overall development of the country,” said chief economic advisor at the finance ministry Dr Chiranjivi Nepal.
Dr Nepal was referring to the domino effects like job creation and rise in money supply that timely spending of capital budget bring about, which ultimately helps in keeping the economy vibrant. “So please spend the money,” he requested the ministries.
Government statistics show that the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport, which has been allocated the highest capital budget of Rs 30 billion has so far used only Rs 3.13 billion, or 10.43 per cent of the total budget allotted to it. The Ministry of Irrigation, which is authorised to make capital spending of up to Rs 11.40 billion this fiscal, on the other hand, has only spent Rs 1.16 billion, or 10.18 per cent of the capital budget allocated to it.
Other ministries, meanwhile, have utilised less than 10 per cent of the capital budget allocated to them, except for the Ministry of Energy, which has spent Rs 130 million or 13 per cent of the capital budget allocated to it.
This is the same with various Priority One projects. The project on development of power transmission lines in various parts of the country has only utilised 3.24 per cent of the Rs 11.10 billion allotted to it. Surprisingly, Nepal-India power transmission line project, Upper Tamakoshi Hydropower project and Air Transport Capacity Enhancement Project have not touched the budget of Rs 2.4 billion, Rs two billion and Rs 1.76 billion allotted to them, respectively.
“While the money allocated for projects announced through the annual fiscal policy has remained unspent, the practice of demanding funds for projects not included in the budgetary programme is on the rise,” finance secretary Shanta Raj Subedi said. “We want ministries to focus on proper implementation of budgetary programmes, so that we can meet the target of spending 85 per cent of the budget allocated for capital spending this fiscal.”
Stop overcharging govt: FinMin
Various civil servants have been found to be overcharging the government on air tickets they purchase while attending various events abroad. “One request that we received demanded reimbursement of Rs 41,000 for air travel expense to New Delhi, whereas the price of air ticket to the Indian capital hovers at around Rs 17,000 to Rs 18,000,” head of the budget and programme division at the Ministry of Finance Baikuntha Aryal said, without disclosing the name of the government body that forwarded the request. A similar pattern was also detected in a reimbursement request for cost incurred in travelling to Poland. “The invoice that was sent to us mentioned Rs 243,000 as air fare to Poland, while a market survey conducted by us found the cost at no more than Rs 132,000,” Aryal said, requesting all government bodies not to engage in such acts.
Source: THT
