Kathmandu, August

Progress of national pride projects, which are currently under construction, remained satisfactory in the last fiscal year, with almost half of them being able to meet over 90 per cent of the ‘physical’ target set for the one-year period.

The report card of 21 national pride projects prepared by the National Planning Commission (NPC) shows that Lumbini Development Trust was the best performing project in the last

fiscal year, which ended on July 16.

The Trust, which is overseeing restoration of Lumbini Garden, the birthplace of Gautam Buddha, was able to meet 100 per cent of the physical as well as financial targets.

Another national pride project that has met 100 per cent physical target set for the last fiscal year was Bheri-Babai Diversion Multipurpose Project. However, the project, which aims to divert water from Bheri to Babai river to irrigate 60,000 hectares of land in Bardiya and Banke districts and generate about 400 giga-watt hour of electricity annually, was able to meet only 93 per cent of the financial target.

The project has so far awarded contract for construction of tunnel and initiated works related to social development and environment protection.

Another project which was able to perform well in the last fiscal was Mid-Hill Highway, which stretches from eastern to far-western part of the

country. It was able to meet 99 per cent of the physical as well as financial targets.

Around 60 km of the highway has been blacktopped, 32 km of the road segment has been gravelled and 13 bridges have been built along the highway, says the National Planning

Commission report.

Similarly, Babai Irrigation Project was able to meet 98 per cent of physical target and 99 per cent of financial target, while Ranijamara Kulariya Irrigation Project was able to meet 99 per cent of the physical target and 81 per cent of financial target set for the fiscal year.

On the other hand, the worst performing national pride project was Kathmandu-Tarai Fast Track, which was able to meet zero per cent of physical target and only three per cent of the financial target.

The government so far has been able to prepare a detailed project report of the fast track but has not been able to hand over the contract to begin construction works.

Similarly, the Second International Airport in Nijgadh was able to meet only 10 per cent of the physical target and one per cent of the financial target, making

it second worst national pride project in terms of performance in the last fiscal.

Among others, Pashupati Area Development Trust was able to meet only 29 per cent of the physical target and 29.2 per cent of financial target.

However, West Seti Hydroelectric Project located in the far- western region of the country has not provided update on its performance in the last fiscal year.