Lawmakers call for stern action against those dillydallying in construction works

KATHMANDU, July 26: Lawmakers, speaking during the meeting of the Finance Committee of the Legislature-Parliament on Tuesday, have demanded stern action against those dillydallying, cheating in and failing to complete construction works in time.

The committee has urged the government to act tough on such people, saying there was high mismanagement in the public works.

A majority of the lawmakers speaking in the meeting pointed out that most of the projects in the country were in trouble due to the contractors’ negligence alone and demanded that a mechanism be set up to check such malpractices.

MPs Surendra Pandey, Bharat Mohan Adhikari, Shakti Basnet, Kedar Sanjel, Udaya Shamsher Rana and Deepak Kuinkel stressed on the need of formulating concrete work plan for reforming such tendencies as the contractors failing to complete projects on the stipulated time and the government exhausting the development budget only at the end of the fiscal year.

The meeting has alerted the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers and the Ministry of Finance to make arrangements for capital expenditure in the ratio of 20 per cent in the first quarter, 40 per cent in the second quarter and 40 per cent in the third quarter of the fiscal year.

Committee president Prakash Jwala said the government has been directed to make the required policy provisions for increasing the capital expenditures.

He added that the government has also been urged to check the misuse of budget mostly at the end of the fiscal year, concluding that there was maximum misuse of the development budget at the end of the fiscal year.

Joint Secretary of the Finance Ministry, Kebal Bhandari said the government was making preparation to put in place provisions for sending the budget in the bank account of the bodies concerned through digital technology. He said this system would address the problem related to cashing the cheque.

Finance Minister Gyanendra Bahadur Karki said the government needed the cooperation of all for making the country’s fiscal administration systematic, dignified and accountable.

He added that the Ministry has started works toward stopping the delays and irregularities in the construction works backed by a concrete work plan.

He insisted that he would actively work towards increasing the capital expenditure and stopping the tendency to spend a chunk of the development budget mostly at the end of the fiscal year. RSS