National pride projects (NPPs) have failed to give good results in the first half of the current fiscal year. The projects that have been accorded high importance for development have been able to spend only 15.63 per cent of the allocated budget during the review period, indicating that performance of the projects is poor.
Of the total Rs 27.4 billion allocated for these projects, only Rs 4.28 billion was spent in the first half of current fiscal year, according to a half-yearly budget implementation review published by the Ministry of Finance (MoF).
The government has listed 21 projects related to road, hydropower, irrigation, railway, tourism infrastructure and drinking water as NPPs.Mid-Hill Highway that connects east to west passing through hilly districts has achieved 41.18 per cent financial progress, standing as top performer among the NPPs. It was provided Rs 1.99 billion budget for the current fiscal year.Sikta Irrigation project is another NPP that has witnessed comparatively better progress, with 36.36 per cent spent from the total allocated budget of Rs 1.4 billion.
According to the MoF, four projects — Pashupati Area Development Trust, Second International Airport (SIA), West Seti Hydropower Project and Bhairahawa Regional International Project — recorded nil progress. Even as the government has put the said projects in top priority, the feasibility study of the West Seti Hydropower is yet to be prepared, while SIA is still awaiting BOOT Committee’s decision on construction modality.Among the hydropower projects, Upper Tamakoshi having capacity of 456 MW witnessed highest financial progress of 33.33 per cent in the total budget of Rs three billion. The project is estimated to be completed by mid-February 2017 and cost Rs 41 billion.
Melamchi drinking water project spent Rs 316.5 million from total allocated budget of Rs 4.61 billion. By the end of current fiscal year, the project has targeted to complete construction of additional eight kilometres of the tunnel, among others.
Other projects, like Bheri-Babai Diversion Multipurpose, Rani Jamara Kulariya Irrigation, Babai Irrigation, Postal Road, President Chure Conservation and Kathmandu-Tarai Fast Track Road achieved financial progress below 10 per cent.
Due to slow progress witnessed in the projects that have been kept in high priority by the government, MoF has said that it might be prudent to provide sufficient budget, shorten governmental procedures and carry out performance evaluation of project managers for speeding up project works.
“It seems highly unlikely that the remaining 84 per cent resources will be utilised in second half of the current fiscal year,” states the MoF review report.Problems in land acquisition, delay in clearing forest areas, shortage of construction materials, weak monitoring and evaluation of contractors and lack of technical staff are some of the problems facing the projects.Likewise, in majority of the projects, there has been problem of low bidding and contractors being unreachable during implementation phase. This trend has also resulted in low quality performance of the contractors winning the project contract.For instance, Mid-Hill Highway project has faced problems of low bidding from contractors, which has delayed project implementation and the quality of work performed by contractors is also poor.
source: the himalayan times,24 feb 2015
LINK
Of the total Rs 27.4 billion allocated for these projects, only Rs 4.28 billion was spent in the first half of current fiscal year, according to a half-yearly budget implementation review published by the Ministry of Finance (MoF).
The government has listed 21 projects related to road, hydropower, irrigation, railway, tourism infrastructure and drinking water as NPPs.Mid-Hill Highway that connects east to west passing through hilly districts has achieved 41.18 per cent financial progress, standing as top performer among the NPPs. It was provided Rs 1.99 billion budget for the current fiscal year.Sikta Irrigation project is another NPP that has witnessed comparatively better progress, with 36.36 per cent spent from the total allocated budget of Rs 1.4 billion.
According to the MoF, four projects — Pashupati Area Development Trust, Second International Airport (SIA), West Seti Hydropower Project and Bhairahawa Regional International Project — recorded nil progress. Even as the government has put the said projects in top priority, the feasibility study of the West Seti Hydropower is yet to be prepared, while SIA is still awaiting BOOT Committee’s decision on construction modality.Among the hydropower projects, Upper Tamakoshi having capacity of 456 MW witnessed highest financial progress of 33.33 per cent in the total budget of Rs three billion. The project is estimated to be completed by mid-February 2017 and cost Rs 41 billion.
Melamchi drinking water project spent Rs 316.5 million from total allocated budget of Rs 4.61 billion. By the end of current fiscal year, the project has targeted to complete construction of additional eight kilometres of the tunnel, among others.
Other projects, like Bheri-Babai Diversion Multipurpose, Rani Jamara Kulariya Irrigation, Babai Irrigation, Postal Road, President Chure Conservation and Kathmandu-Tarai Fast Track Road achieved financial progress below 10 per cent.
Due to slow progress witnessed in the projects that have been kept in high priority by the government, MoF has said that it might be prudent to provide sufficient budget, shorten governmental procedures and carry out performance evaluation of project managers for speeding up project works.
“It seems highly unlikely that the remaining 84 per cent resources will be utilised in second half of the current fiscal year,” states the MoF review report.Problems in land acquisition, delay in clearing forest areas, shortage of construction materials, weak monitoring and evaluation of contractors and lack of technical staff are some of the problems facing the projects.Likewise, in majority of the projects, there has been problem of low bidding and contractors being unreachable during implementation phase. This trend has also resulted in low quality performance of the contractors winning the project contract.For instance, Mid-Hill Highway project has faced problems of low bidding from contractors, which has delayed project implementation and the quality of work performed by contractors is also poor.
source: the himalayan times,24 feb 2015
LINK
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