Missed opportunity

 The Himalayan Times

14 July 2022

Missed opportunity

One might be surprised to know about the government’s capital spending capacity dramatically increases towards the end of any fiscal year. All the government ministries, departments and their subordinate offices become very active in spending their annual budget allocated for the development projects with the approach of the end of the fiscal year. We see this trend continuing every fiscal year despite the Auditor General Office’s (ADG) repetitive objection while auditing their annual operations. However, the government and its bodies have failed to abide by this financial rule and continue to disburse the budget haphazardly in the last month and week of the financial year.

In accordance with the Financial Comptroller General Office (FCGO), the government had spent Rs 1.238 trillion (75.81 %), out of the total allocated budget of Rs 1.633 trillion, for this fiscal year. As per the existing financial rules, the capital budget is frozen a week before the end of the fiscal year. That is why the government and all its organizations start blindly spending unspent capital budget before this dead line, which is illegal as per the existing financial rules and regulation. However, none of these organizations seem to be following up these financial rules despite recommendation made by the ADG’s office during their annual audit. Owing to these irresponsible acts, the quality of development projects has always remained questionable.

Statistics show that over the past five years, the government has been spending only around 72 present of the capital budget on average, which displays the state’s inability to use funds allocated under the prescribed headings. Capital expenditure has always been a problem in Nepal. The late start of detailed planning and implementation, lethargic bureaucratic process, delay in the tendering process, monopoly in the selection of contractors, untimely budget release and geographical structure among others, are the major factor behind the poor capital expenditures. Had all these factors been taken care of, construction of planned development project would have commenced in time, providing employment to thousands of skilled and non-skilled workers. However, no government has shown seriousness in timely implementation of development projects.

Rai Biren Bangdel

Maharajgunj