National pride projects: Implementation 'moved ahead' at a snail's pace

KATHMANDU:

Implementation of projects considered vital for the country’s development moved ahead at a snail’s pace last fiscal year, with more than half of them failing even to meet 80 per cent of the target set for the year, thanks largely to budget crunch.

The government had classified 17 undertakings as the projects of national pride in the fiscal 2012-13, based on their ability to cater effective service to large populace and remove the infrastructure-related bottleneck that has tapered investment flow. Of these, only eight were able to achieve the target of 80 per cent or more, says a report of the National Planning Commission made public today.

A slew of reasons has been cited for the delay in project implementation, including difficulty in land acquisition process, problems regarding appointment of contractors, frequent strikes and other hindrances at the local level. But prominent among them was lack of budget, shows the report. “Many projects faced cash crunch last fiscal as the annual budget came in three instalments, which led to delay in release of adequate funds,” NPC Joint Secretary Teertha Raj Dhakal told The Himalayan Times.

These hurdles came in the way of project such as Ranijamara irrigation, which was able to meet only 17.20 per cent of the physical target and 18 per cent of the financial target. Another irrigation project — Sikta — was also able to meet only 57.34 per cent of physical target and 50.20 per cent of financial target. The only irrigation project that performed relatively better was Babai, which was able to meet 96.73 per cent of physical target and 99.86 per cent of financial target.

However, the actual progress of projects that met their targets was also dubious — the Melamchi Drinking Water Project being one of them. The project, which has failed to deliver drinking water to Kathmandu Valley residents despite commencing works in 1998, is said to have attained 99 per cent of the physical target. But it was able to achieve almost cent per cent result because it was only asked to issue tender notices on construction of diversion tunnel and water processing units in the year.

“The project met almost 100 per cent of the physical target but we failed to give away allocated money to contractors in the year, which led to achievement of only 16.2 per cent of the financial target,” the project’s Executive Director Krishna Prasad Acharya said.

Another project whose physical and financial targets varied by a wide margin was Koshi north-south highway. It met 72.86 per cent of the physical target but only 48.97 per cent of the financial target.

But worst in terms of implementation were projects such as international airport in Bara, regional airports in Bhairahawa and Pokhara, and West-Seti Hydropower Project. Construction works of all

these vital projects have not begun yet.

However, not everything is gloom and doom.

Kathmandu-Tarai fast track was able to meet 100 per cent of physical and financial targets set for the year, while mid-hill highway project was also able to meet 100 per cent of the physical target and 97.56 per cent of financial target.

Other better performers were east-west railway project, postal highway project, Budhi Gandaki Hydroproject and Tamakoshi Hydroproject.

Slow off the mark

• Of the 17 projects of national pride, only eight could achieve the target of 80 per cent or more implementation

• Besides budget crunch, the other delaying factors are problems regarding appointment of contractors, frequent strikes and hindrances at the local level

• Ranijamara irrigation project could meet only 17.20 per cent of the physical target and 18 per cent of the financial target

• Sikta project could meet only 57.34 per cent of physical target and 50.20 per cent of financial target

• Koshi north-south highway project achieved 72.86 per cent of the physical target but only 48.97 per cent of the financial target

• Worst in terms of implementation are projects such as international airport in Bara, regional airports in Bhairahawa and Pokhara, and West-Seti Hydropower Project, construction works for are yet to start

Source: THT