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| Kathmandu, Thursday February 13, 2003 Falgun 01, 2059. |
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Lack of budget mars completion of irrigation projects
By Motilal Poudel
SURKHET, Feb 12 :
Although the cease-fire announcement between the government and the Maoists has created a
positive environment for contractors and technicians to go to villages to execute
irrigation projects, these projects are unlikely to be completed on time. The reason being
that the budget approved by the government has yet to be released. Many irrigation
projects initiated in the mid-western region have been suspended due to insecurity and
lack of budget.
Bishwobhar Chaudhary,
chief of mid-western Irrigation Development Division Office, said that those projects have
remained incomplete because the approved budget for this fiscal year has not been released
yet.
"Contractors are
in touch with us and are ready to initiate the work but the projects are yet to be
approved," Chaudhary said. Under the Nepal Sector Irrigation Project only one project
in Dailekh has been initiated so far. Duration of the World Bank-funded projects was
extended for one more year keeping in mind the growing Maoist insurgency and lack of
explosives at the sites.
Government forces had
imposed a ban on using explosives in the mid-western region fearing that the rebel
fighters might seize them for guerrilla warfare purposes.
Those projects were
scheduled to be completed during the last fiscal year. Work on the 16 irrigation projects
have not started, although seven months of this fiscal year have already passed. Nine out
of the total 25 irrigation projects were scrapped, citing mainly insecurity and
unavailability of explosives in the region.
Those projects were
scrapped after the contractors and technicians could not go to the site of construction.
Sources said that only Rs 130 million was spent out of a total Rs 330 million allocated
for these projects.
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