KATHMANDU, JULY 20

The Ministry of Finance (MoF) has issued an 81-point guideline to all the ministries, departments, and line agencies for the effective implementation of the budget for this fiscal year 2023-24. The guideline focuses on maximum utilisation of resources and ensuring effectiveness and efficiency.

Likewise, the ministry has directed the bodies concerned to maintain fiscal discipline and ordered the officials and stakeholders to complete the necessary works for the implementation of the annual poli-cies and programmes while also urged the government institutions to formulate new procedures, directives, and standards within a month if they are to seek approval from the ministry. Such approved procedures should be updated on the agencies' website within a week.

As per the guidelines, government institutions should call the tenders within the first three months of the fiscal year by preparing the annual procurement plan, detailed design, and cost estimation. The contract agreement should be done by mid-November and the job should be commenced within 15 days of signing the contract agreement, the ministry has stated. Likewise, the agreement would be automatically scrapped if the contract agreement is not carried out within nine months after the assurance of resources.

As the budget implementation guidelines state, the source agreement will be scraped for those projects which have not yet gone into bidding despite the completion of nine months of the agreement and have not been proposed for appropriations in the budget of the current fiscal year. Likewise, the implementation of the Parliamentary Constituency Infrastructure Development Programme and the Production and Employment Generation Programme are to take place by the thematic committees and implementation provisions are recommended accordingly.

Through the guidelines, the ministry has directed the implementation of a 'reward' and 'punishment' culture in the construction business. Construction companies are mandated to take permission in writing from the respective project chief if they need to seek services for the entire or specific works via an auxiliary contract. The guidelines insist on the development of a culture of holding project chiefs and construction companies responsible for timely and quality delivery. The auxiliary contract has been discouraged in most essential cases.

Likewise, projects worth over Rs 100 million are recommended to undergo construction quality tests by the National Vigilance Centre. The implementation has not been recommended in case of those programmes and projects not endorsed by the budget. Likewise, the introduction of any programme in the mid of the budget is to be discouraged.

The ministry has also suggested making payments on the basis of physical progress and quality of the projects. For the second quarterly budget release, there should be 30 per cent work progress, while for third quarterly release, there must be at least 50 per cent physical progress. The environment impact assessment and preliminary environment test should be carried out within the fixed timeframe for facilitating the project implementation.

The MoF has also urged maintaining utmost frugality in administrative expenses including allowances, trainings, seminars, service fees, fuel, etcetera.

A version of this article appears in the print on July 21, 2023, of The Himalayan Times.