Piecemeal demands from lawmakers have roads officials confused

KATHMANDU, June 14 :

Planners and policymakers associated with the roads sector are confused over the government´s development priority amid growing pressure from parliamentarians and local politicians for inclusion of small projects in the new budget.

With demands for roads in their home villages and constituencies, parliamentarians have been exerting pressure on the Department of Roads (DoR) to earmark budget for small and petty projects. DoR officials said they have received demands for around 1,100 small road projects and are in confusion over which project to include and which to exclude in the budget.

After the November 2013 elections, parliamentarians and political leaders have been frequenting the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport and the DoR to press their demands for small road projects.

An official at the Department of Roads seeking not to be named complained that inclusion of every small project in the govenrment´s red book will make priority confusion. Most of the demands are for short roads of 10-15 km.

An official at the Department of Roads complained that parliamentarians, who bring along letters undersigned by Transport Minister Bimalendra Nidhi himself, have piled pressure on the department to give priority to certain road projects. Though the budget preparations are already in the final stages, parliamentarians are still visiting the DoR with their demands. Sources also revealed that the minister has been recommending inclusion of small projects in the budget without thinking if they are really necessary or not. Secretary at MoPIT Tulasi Prasad Sitaula also acknowledged that they are confused over prioritizing the projects as the CA members, political leaders and the local administrations have their own priorities.

The government sets aside around Rs 4 billion annually for such small projects, but allocating scarce resources for ´insignificant´ and petty projects affects larger and strategic projects, according to officials.

Arjun Jung Thapa, deputy director at DoR, said that it costs around Rs 100 million per kilometer to construct a standard road but the small projects pushed by local politicians and parliamentarians are seeking between Rs 500,000 and Rs 1 million per kilometer.

Officials at DoR said that such applications from Tarai region outnumber demands of hills and Himalayan region. According to DoR, Chitwan tops all districts with demand for a total of 405 road projects. Kathmandu, Rolpa, Nawalparasi and Kavre have demanded 356, 335, 293 and 262 road projects respectively.

Likewise, Bara, Parsa, Siraha, Sarlahi, Dhanusha, Morang and Jhapa have demanded over 200 road projects each. But mountain districts have placed very few demands, for instance, Mustang has demanded 12 road projects.

Thapa complained that such unplanned disbursement brings almost no economic improvement and does not help development. Rajesh Kumar Yadav, an engineer at DoR, said that such small projects only serve vested interest of some leaders using state funds. Officials also complained that it is difficult to monitor the implementation of such small projects.

Now CA members have also started collecting signatures demanding that the government provide Rs 50 million for each constituency to address their local development demands.

Talking to Republica, Ramhari Khatiwada, NC parliamentarian from Okhaladhunga, said that they are collecting signatures of parliamentarians demanding Rs 50 million for each of the 240 constituencies, so that the parliamentarians do not have to knock at the ministers´ and bureaucrats´ doors for small projects.

"CA members of the concerned constituencies will spend the money in development projects in coordination with the District Development Committee," added Khatiwada.

However, critics doubt whether such a huge amount of money will be spent effeciently and in transparent manner. Currently CA members get Rs 1 million each per year for implementing small development projects in their constituencies. But Khatiwada said Rs 1 million is too meager an amount to address local demands.

In an interview with Republica a week ago, Prime Minister´s Economic Advisor Chiranjivi Nepal had stated that the government will increase the the fund for the parliamentarians.

Source: Republica