Minister Bimalendra Nidhi proposes 'Mithila Sadak'

KATHMANDU, June 16 :

Minister for Physical Infrastructure and Transport (MoPIT) Bimalendra Nidhi has approved a new ´Mithila Sadak´ project, creating a new budget heading for the purpose.

The project aimed at improving different various road sections in the districts of the central Tarai was already forwarded to the National Planning Commission on Sunday for approval following a ministerial level decision.

Sources privy of the development said Minister Nidhi´s project requires Rs 150 to Rs 200 million for improving seven different road sections between the districts of Saptari and Parsa and the project will be kept under P1, or priority projects, in the new budget.

Nidhi was elected from Dhanusha constituency no. 3 and there is one project in his constituency - the Dhalkebar to Janakpur road - under the Mithila Sadak project.

But the minister´s proposal is short on details, such as inter alia the length of the proposed road segments.

Sources also said that Minister Nidhi believes Mithila Sadak will be important for filling the lack of any infrastructure projects for so long in those the districts because of the presence of several underground armed outfits.

Former vice-chairman of NPC Dipendra Bahadur Chhetri, however, said that the proposed project will only add to the already existing large-scale infrastructure projects that are in the pipeline, such as the postal highway and the east-west railway project, apart from the upgrading of the existing East-West Highway.

“Moreover, the proposed project is apparently aimed at wooing voters and will be of no use in planned development," he alleged, adding that it could lead to misuse of resources.
Chhetri was also critical of the ´piecemeal´ nature of the project as it was conceived at the ministerial level, instead of doing the preparing and planning from the local level and through the district development committee and getting it approved by the planning commission.

Past experience suggests that priority projects continue to receive budget funding from successive governments until they are completed.

“NPC should reject such unplanned projects without any hesitation and the practice of creating one´s own projects out of petty interests only undermines fixed priority in development planning,” said Dinesh Chandra Devkota, another former NPC vice-chairman.

Nidhi is not the first minister to prepare a separate heading under the budget. Former MoPIT ministers have also created new budget headings targeting voters in their home districts.

However, Devkota stressed that the coalition partners in this government should be more responsible toward the rule of law and follow set procedures while settling on development projects.

Former ministers at MoPIT Chhabi Lal Panta, Top Bahadur Rayamajhi, Gopal Man Shrestha and Bijay Kumar Gachhedar had also introduced new road projects to woo voters in their home districts, thus undercutting national priorities.

Those projects are still receiving budget allocations regularly.

Talking to Republica, incumbent NPC Vice-chairman Gobinda Raj Pokharel said that they have not received any such projects.

Pokharel, however, ruled out the ministry going beyond the ceiling fixed by the NPC, saying they can only make little changes within their projects.

Source: Republica