Kathmandu, January 10

The Ministry of Federal Affairs and Local Development has directed all 75 district development committees to implement the decision of the Development Committee of the Legislature-Parliament to properly utilise capital and development budget.

Stating that utilisation of only six per cent of capital and development expenditure was very disappointing, the ministry directed the DDCs to ensure completion of development projects before the end of the fiscal for which the budget is allocated.

“As the government has already simplified the Public Procurement Act for effective and timely expenditure of development budget, it is requested that all DDCs proceed with implementation of approved projects by allocating adequate budget and blacklisting contractors who fail to deliver,” read a letter issued by the MoFALD yesterday.

Earlier, the Parliamentary Committee had blamed the government and the concerned ministries for failure to utilise development budget and directed them to spend no less than 90 per cent of the budget allocated for development activities. It has also stressed on enhancing financial discipline and transparency, and monitoring and evaluation of proposed projects.

Procedural hassles, obstruction from locals, forest and environment-related problems, complex decision-making process, shortage of construction materials and labourers, negligence of contractors and frequent transfers of government employees have adversely affected development activities.

“The tendency of pushing implementation of development projects and allocating budget far less than the required amount has resulted in very low expenditure of development budget. Therefore, the DDCs should sanction necessary budget for development projects. They should also punish defaulters and reward genuine contractors,” said the MoFALD.