Kathmandu,
Jan 25: The budget
spending in the national pride projects which are considered as transformative
project with strategic significance is found to be negligible.
The mid-term
review of the ongoing fiscal year budget has shown the progress in national pride
project slow off the mark. The records maintained by Office of Comptroller
General revealed that total budget spending was 32 percent till January 14. Out
of this, 38 percent was under current expenditure while 14 percent under
capital expenditure, and 29.44 percent financial management. Only 23 percent
budget was spent in the national pride project till the mid-term review, the
Office added.
The national
pride projects were allocated total Rs 97 billion budget in the current fiscal
year, but the progress is not satisfactory. The NPPs including the Millennium
Challenge Account Nepal, South Asia Tourism Infrastructure Development Project,
Kathmandu-Tarai Madhes Expressway, Pokhara Regional International Airport saw
less than 5 percent expenditure till mid-January.
Newly appointed
Vice Chair of the National Planning Commission, Dr Min Bahadur Shrestha,
informed that the problem of low spending surfaced because the national pride
projects were forwarded simultaneously.“There is resource crunch if all
projects are taken together. Our contractors and constructionists lack
capacity. Oversight mechanism including bureaucracy is not able to work for it.
So, certain projects should be prioritized and forwarded,” he observed.
Out of the
budget allocated to Millennium Account Nepal Challenge, it spent only 0.43
percent. Similarly, Kathmandu-Tarai Expressway was able to use only 5.13
percent (Rs 1.59 billion) by the mid-term. The South Asia Tourism
Infrastructure was not able to expend more than 3.23 percent out of annual
budget of Rs 2.20 billion.(RSS)