Government to Reform National Pride Projects, Mobilize Idle Funds

Kathmandu. Ministry of Finance spokesperson Amrit Lamsal said the government has initiated strategic reform efforts to increase the effectiveness and capital expenditure of national pride projects. Speaking at a meeting of the Finance Committee of the House of Representatives on Monday, spokesperson Lamsal said that the definition of pride projects, budget implementation, and resource mobilization would be done. In the meeting, spokesperson Lamsal admitted that the results of the currently operating national pride projects were not satisfactory. "It is contradictory that the progress of projects started since FY 2068/69 is only 3 percent in some places and 15 percent in others," he said, "Now there is a need to redefine which project should actually be called 'national pride'." He emphasized the need to identify projects that provide real returns and focus resources on them, rather than prioritizing all 23-24 projects. Preparation to mobilize 85 billion from scattered funds Lamsal informed that the government is preparing to bring idle funds from various boards and committees into the national treasury and mobilize them. According to him, there is approximately 84.84 billion rupees in 196 various funds. "The Ministry of Finance is working on how the money in these funds can be brought into the national system and spent on development construction without disrupting their regular work," he said. Mentioning that one of the reasons for low capital expenditure is the cumbersome legal process, spokesperson Lamsal said that the 'Economic Procedure and Financial Accountability Regulations' have been improved. Now, the secretaries of the concerned ministries (accounting responsible officers) have been given the authority to transfer funds, and the ministry believes that this will facilitate budget implementation and increase capital expenditure. Lamsal informed that in allocating the budget for the next year, the system of ministries allocating budget only after coordinating with the project bank and national project bank will be further strengthened. He said that a policy has been adopted to discourage small and scattered projects of 5 lakh, 10 lakh and focus the budget on large and strategic projects.