Majority of P1 projects likely to miss targets

Kathmandu, May 7

Only 30.37 per cent of the Priority One (P1) projects of the government were able to meet 80 per cent or more of the performance target in the first eight months of the current fiscal year, signalling slow implementation of most of the projects.

The government has identified 326 projects as P1 for the current fiscal year, which began in mid-July. Of these projects, only 99 were able to meet 80 per cent or more of physical and financial targets in the eight-month period between mid-July and mid-March, shows the latest progress report of P1 projects released by the National Planning Commission (NPC), the apex body that frames the country’s development plans and policies.

A total of 91 projects, on the other hand, were able to achieve 50 to 79 per cent of the target, while 109 projects could not even meet 50 per cent of the target. The status of 27 projects, however, was unknown, as per the NPC report.

If the project implementation moves at this pace, many P1 projects will not be able to meet the target set for this fiscal, as only around two months remain for the financial year to end. This will ultimately lead to underutilisation of the capital budget.

The NPC’s progress report shows that over 50 per cent of the P1 projects extended to the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport could not even meet 50 per cent of the performance targets in the eight-month period. The ministry was given the responsibility of implementing 57, or 17.5 per cent, of the total P1 projects.

The case is the same with the Ministry of Federal Affairs and Local Development (MoFALD) and the Ministry of Agricultural Development (MoAD), which shouldered the responsibility of implementing 29 P1 projects each.

Almost 50 per cent of the P1 projects handled by the MoFALD so far have not met 50 per cent of the target in the eight-month period, whereas only 38 per cent of the projects under MoAD achieved 80 per cent or more target during the review period.

Performance of the Ministry of Energy was not satisfactory as well. The ministry was given the responsibility of rolling out 28 P1 projects this fiscal year. But in the first eight months of the current fiscal year, around 54 per cent of the projects could not even meet 50 per cent of the target.

Another laggard was the Ministry of Irrigation, which was given 24 projects for implementation.

Of these projects, only around 42 per cent of them have met over 80 per cent of the performance targets.

The government always categorises projects as ‘national pride’, P1, Priority Two (P2) and Priority Three (P3).

A total of 21 projects have been classified as ‘national pride’. This fiscal year, 120 projects were categorised as P2 and 22 projects as P3.