By Modnath Dhakal
Kathmandu, July 30: Minister for Finance Dr. Yuba Raj Khatiwada on Wednesday said that the Millennium Challenge Account (MCA) project should not be made a hostage of internal politics.
Seeking early decision of the parliament, he said that if the country doesn’t want the project, let it be rejected, the government would implement it with its own resources.
“As the project is not ratified by the parliament as per the condition in the bilateral contract between Nepal and the United States of America, we haven’t received the money for the project but we are spending the government money,” he said at the meeting of the National Interest and Coordination Committee under the National Assembly at the Singha Durbar.
MCA is the most economic large-scale project to be implemented in the country, but it has not been ratified by the parliament even though it should have been started on June 30 this year.
MCA is a programme of US government’s Millennium Challenge Corporation in Nepal that is investing US$500 million in the cross-border transmission lines and road rehabilitation projects.
Responding to the queries of the lawmakers regarding the status and progress of the national pride projects, Dr. Khatiwada said that the government had announced the international airport at Nijgadh earlier than the actual work should have started.
Initially tagged as the second international airport (SIA), it has been delayed by many years and other two international airports – Gautam Buddha International Airport, Bhairahawa and Pokhara International Airport – would be completed within a couple of years. It means Nijgadh would be the fourth international airport in the country. GBIA in Bhairahawa will come into operation by the end of this year.
According to the Finance Minister, the Nijgadh Airport is facing multiple challenges such as legal case at the Supreme Court which had obstructed the government from
announcing the tender for the project.
Government-parliament cooperation
Expressing concerns over time and cost overrun in most of the national pride projects, Dr. Khatiwada said that the government had ensured the allocation of additional budget and other facilitation to them if needed. “Despite our manifold efforts, some of the projects are not moving ahead at the desired speed. The government had registered a bill on expediting the large and pride projects at the parliament but it is stuck there for the last two years,” he said.
He sought government-parliament cooperation in the matters of development. FM Dr. Khatiwada pointed towards the need of greater cooperation among the development ministries and agencies to ensure better management of road and other utilities in the urban areas.
“The electricity authority plans to put the cables underground in the third quarter of the year while the road department has a plan to blacktop the same road in the first quarter. This mismatch has affected the roads and pavements in the cities,” he said. He said that this was the weakness on the part of the government and urged for greater and pragmatic coordination among the ministries and line agencies.
Land acquisition major issue
Land acquisition has been a major challenge in implementing development projects across the country. Every large project – like the Budhigandaki Hydroelectricity Project, Kathmandu-Terai Expressway and Postal Highway – has been affected in one or other way from the acquisition issue.
Likewise, the conditions set by the donor agencies, and environmental issues also cause delay in the development of such projects. However, Dr. Khatiwada said that the delay in the Postal Highway was the result of adjustment in the project. The project designed two decades ago was a single-lane agricultural infrastructure but it has been converted as a double-lane highway. Meanwhile, Nepal took the development responsibility of the road from India which is financing the road. The expansion of the width of the road has created land acquisition challenges at various locations.
No dearth of resources
Dr. Khatiwada assured the ministries and lawmakers that there would be no dearth of resources for the pride projects. “We respect the National Planning Commission (NPC)’s budget earmark for the pride projects. However, budget size of some projects that would be unable to utilise the budget, the amount is compromised in consultation with the respective ministries,” he said.
Vice-chairman of the NPC Prof. Dr. Puspa Raj Kandel said that the pride projects had not witnessed progress as expected even after the provision of enough resources and facilitation.
“Quality, time and cost have been compromised at all projects. Greater coordination among the ministries and monitoring is needed,” he said.
However, he maintained that most of the projects would be completed by the end of current five-year plan period.
Chairman of the committee Dil Kumari Rawal Thapa (Parbati) expressed her surprise at the dismal performance of the pride projects despite political stability and competent team at most of the development agencies.
The country has 21 pride projects falling under five ministries – Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation, Water Supply, Forest and Environment, Physical Infrastructure and Transport, and Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation.