MoF starts inspection of ministries
KATHMANDU:
As development-related ministries largely failed to gather speed regarding the development expenditure, which is merely 11 per cent till the first week of January — mid-fiscal year — the Ministry of Finance (MoF) has started onsite inspection of the concerned ministries to know the actual cause behind slow capital expenditure.
“Ministries often cite similar reasons like delays in awarding contracts due to festive seasons and delays in programme sanction, among others,” said Baikuntha Aryal, chief of the Budget Division under the MoF, adding, “But these are not the only reasons, which is why we started onsite inspections.”
As per Aryal, this initiative was taken to accelerate the development expenditure and for timely completion of development projects. The cost of development projects has been escalating due to delay in finishing projects on schedule.
This is the first time that the MoF has started onsite monitoring of projects that have been allocated national resources as the country has ironically had budget surplus since a few years. Currently, domestic resources cover around 78 per cent of the capital budget.
The inspection mission led by the budget division chief of MoF comprises undersecretaries from the Monitoring and Evaluation Division, and International Economic Aid Coordination Division as well as the undersecretary of the respective areas from the National Planning Commission (NPC). The mission today conducted inspections at Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport (MoPIT) and Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation (MoCTCA).
“MoPIT has just spent Rs 4.69 billion of the total capital budget of Rs 35 billion during this period,” said one of the members from the inspection team, adding, “The capital budget spent by MoPIT also includes funds spent to develop infrastructure during the SAARC Summit.” Likewise, MoCTCA has spent Rs 229 million from its total capital budget of Rs 1.29 billion earmarked for this fiscal.
According to MoPIT Secretary Tulasi Prasad Sitaula, they are facing challenges of project preparedness as well as in finding competent contractors for development projects and that is hindering the development expenditure. MoPIT is one of the major ministries that enjoys more capital expenditure.
The parliamentary committees — Finance Committee, Agriculture and Water Resource Committee and Development Committee — have prevented the government from transferring funds after the end of the third quarter of the fiscal year.
The inspection mission has, thus, suggested the secretaries and planning division chiefs of the respective ministries to send their project proposals at the earliest if they have to amend the programmes to help reallocate funds to accelerate capital expenditure.
The mission would present the report during the meeting of Monitoring Committee under the Finance Minister and participated by secretaries of all ministries, which is held every two months.
Source: THT
