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| Kathmandu Sunday April 07, 2002 Chaitra 25, 2058. |
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Rebel violence taking its toll
Work on agriculture roads affected in 25 districts
By Damaru Lal Bhandari
KATHMANDU, April 6:The implementations of
infrastructure related projects under the Department of Infrastructure and Agriculture
Roads of the Ministry of Local Development have suffered a lot during the current fiscal
year than ever before.
And, the apprehension that the Maoist violence
may have adversely affected the construction of agriculture roads in as many as 65
districts has proved right. These planned roads fall under the 20-year agriculture
perspective plan.
Bhim Upadhyaya, Chief of the Department of
Infrastructure and Agriculture Roads, said, "The work on roads in early 40 districts
got underway though we have received not even 50 percent of the allocated budget."
He, however, conceded that the Department has not been able to implement the projects in
other 25 districts due to the Maoist violence.
Concerned monitoring officials in the same
ministry said, "Either, there has been truncated presence of the key officials in the
districts or there has not been enough preparation concerning the roads." Even the
budget allocated for the purpose tends to get entangled in the bureaucratic mess,
something, which has been identified as additional factor in ruling out the early
implementation of the projects.
Moreover, delayed planning of the roads and
procedural obstacles had also added to the delay. As has come to the fore, many
agriculture roads are still caught in the delay resulting from task of conducting the
mandatory competitive bidding before the job is awarded.
As Basant Raj Gautam, Chief of the Ministry of
Local Development’s Monitoring Cell, said that the report of the first six months
shows that they have not yet commenced the physical part of the work. "They are still
busy in concluding the procedural part of it," he said.
Meanwhile, nothing seems to have impended the
construction of the roads under the "Rural Community Infrastructure Work
(RCIW)", which was previously known as "Food for Work Programme."
"Our programme has remained unaffected for
the consecutive seventh year," said Gautam, the Programme Manager of RCIW. "In
fact, we have remained unaffected by violence perpetrated by the rebels." It is
because of the fact that the programme is directly linked to food, according to Gautam.
The RCIW is currently working in food-deficit
regions from where the depots of Nepal Food Corporation (NFC) have moved out or closed
down. RCIW is operating 60 rural road projects in 31 districts.
Out of Rs. 350 million earmarked for RCIW
projects, about Rs. 230 million worth of food grains come from the World Food Programme
(WFP) while the government and local bodies contribute to the tune of Rs. 120 million. The
government, however, has cut down the administrative budget as part of the austerity
measure in the wake of soaring security expenses.
In terms of food grains, it is nearly 15,000
metric tons of food grains, which ought to go towards agriculture road construction during
the current fiscal year. The biggest road being built under the RCIW is 70-km
Humla-Simikot road, 20 km of which has already been constructed. "It may be, they are
not able to commence the job on time in disturbed areas just because their project does
not involve food grains," Gautam said which explaining the inordinate delay in the
commencement of the work on district agriculture roads.
Additional obstacles of course include delayed
release of budget both from the Ministry of Finance and donors themselves who have
committed for the funding of these projects. The budget earmarked for the district
agriculture roads has been put at Rs. 150 million, with a major component coming from the
donors. The donors are usually known for seeking complete transparency and preparedness
before doling out the money something which against rules out any prospects of timely
release of the same. Timely preparedness is ruled out by the fact that the projects often
get caught in the bureaucratic hassles.
Even the Asian Development Bank (ADB) has
suspended the continued assistance to road projects in Kavre, Tanahu and Bajhang, saying
that it expects to make reassessment of the entire commitment made in the wake of the
anomalies arising in the implementation stage.
The bank, however, is expected to recommence its
assistance in these districts when the second phase of the programme begins elsewhere. ADB
is funding these roads, which are identified as "village to market roads."
Meanwhile, the projects undertaken by the Swiss
Development Co-operation (SDC) have been regarded as the examples of better-implemented
ones, compared to others. SDC is funding roads in Kavre, Sindhupalchowk, Dolakha and
Ramechhap districts.
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