World Bank warns of halting disbursement
KATHMANDU, MAY 25:
World Bank has warned the government that it will halt the disbursement of eight projects after the concerned ministries failed to submit their financial reports within the stipulated time.
Various ministries have failed to submit the financial reports of at least eight projects carried out by them in the stipulated time, said a source at the Finance Ministry.
“HIV/AIDS and Avian Influenza Control project under Ministry of Health, Forest Carbon Partnership Facility project under the Ministry of Forests and Soil Conservation, and Higher Education and Pro-poor Targeted Secondary Stipend projects under the Ministry of Education have failed to submit their financial reports to the bank,” the source divulged.
Similarly, Social Safety Net project of the Ministry of Local Development and Public Procurement Monitoring Programme project under the Public Procurement Monitoring Office have also missed the given deadline to submit their financial reports, according to the ministry official.
The concerned ministries and offices should have submitted their respective financial reports by the end of 2011, he said, adding that those ministries and offices failed to prepare their financial reports even six months after the deadline.
The World Bank had asked all ministries to clear their financial reports by May 15, but all agencies failed to deliver their reports even within that extended timeframe, according to him.
It is quite embarrassing that the ministries which often lament about the lack of resources cannot submit their reports even to claim their disbursements, he said. “The credibility of the concerned ministries will be questioned due their inefficiency to prepare an audited report in the stipulated timeframe.”
Most ministries have said that the transfer of employees and the delay in receiving documents from the districts are the reasons why they have not been able to submit the financial reports but that is not excusable, he said.
After the ministries failed to submit their audited reports on time, a meeting was held at the Office of the Prime Minister to discuss the issue.
In the meeting, all ministries and the Public Procurement Monitoring Office pledged to submit their audited reports by the end of this week, said a source who attended the meeting.
Source: THT
