PMO asks MoF to release Rs 590m for road expansion program
KATHMANDU, Nov 4:
The Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers (OPMCM) has instructed the Ministry of Finance (MoF) to instantly disburse Rs 590 million to different government agencies in order to speed up the road expansion drive in the Kathmandu Valley.
The disbursement was ordered mainly after Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) informed that it would need Rs 210 million to relocate the electricity poles and wires, Kathmandu Upatyaka Khanepani Limited (KUKL) demanded Rs 40 million for realigning the drinking water pipelines and District Development Committee (DDC) Kathmandu and Lalitpur asked for Rs 240 million and Rs 100 million respectively to smoothly execute the road expansion program.
Following such assessment, Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai on Saturday instructed the MoF to arrange and disburse the budget immediately to those agencies so that ´tangible output´ could be seen in the road expansion drive in the Valley.
"It is important to bisburse the budget to speed up the progress of road expansion program," said Krishna Hari Baskota, secretary at the OPMCM. "Hence, we have instructed the MoF to disburse the budget without ado."
A team of OPMCM had conducted a field study and inspected the status of road expansion program under the leadership of Baskota. The team had later briefed on their findings to Bhattarai.
According to a press release of OPMCM, the inspection team had visited road stretches of Gyaneshwor-Baluwatar-Dillibazar-Charkhal, Gyaneshwor-Lazimpat, Sano Gaucharan-Sifal, and Mitrapark-Jayabageshwori, among others.
Under the drive, the government has been expanding roads stretching along the 180 kms in 100 different road sections in the Valley.
"Under the drive, we found that 10 households in Lainchaur-Maharajgunj section were losing their entire property," said Baskota, adding that following such finding the team reported to Bhattarai that the government should duly address concerns of those families.
During the field visit, the team also instructed all concerned agencies such as KUKL, Nepal Telecom and NEA to work in close coordination so that relocation or fresh installation of water pipes, communication cables and electricity lines and expansion of roads goes hand in hand. "The lack of coordination among line agencies too has been causing delay in achieving the tangible result of road expansion program. We have strongly asked them to work together," Baskota said.
After hearing the findings of the inspection team, Bhattarai asked all the agencies involved in the program to work in a coordinated and effective way. "All the agencies must work in an integrated way since the road expansion leaves crucial long-term impact," said PM Bhattarai.
"The construction of road also should be in the same speed as the expansion of road." He further added that the people have suffered a lot due to unmanaged dusty road. "Please speed up and complete the task at the earliest," he said.
Source: Republica
