LOCAL NEWS THE RISING NEPAL (DAILY)

First interim report of PERC out

Kathmandu, Nov. 17 (RSS): Convenor of the Public Expenditure Review Commission (PERC) Binaya Dhoj Chand presented the first interim report of the Commission to Finance Minister Mahesh Acharya at the latter's office today.

On the occasion, Mr Acharya said in the present context of public expenditure management becoming more challenging, the suggestions of the report will go a long way in ensuring good governance by maintaining fiscal and economic discipline in the country.

It would help formulate the next fiscal budget if the final report is prepared by collecting suggestions through public discussions about the work for poverty alleviation to be carried out at the central and regional levels and projects to be selected for the purpose, he further said.

Mr Chand, while presenting the report, expressed confidence that the interim report, prepared by His Majesty's Government in keeping with its commitment expressed in the current fiscal year budget, would be helpful.

The report suggests scrapping the Ministry of Women, Children and Social Welfare since a National Women's Commission has already been formed and converting the Ministry of General Administration into a central work management office functioning under the head of government.

The Ministry of Population and Environment should be removed and the Ministry of Health allowed to carry out demographic activity and the Ministry of Science and Technology out environment-related activity, the report said adding, the Special Police Department and the Public Revenue Investigation Department should be merged to form an independent investigation bureau to be headed by the head of government.

The department of printing and the office of comptroller general should be allowed to function independently, it is also stated.

The functioning of the ministries should be limited to framing, enforcing, monitoring and evaluating policies, the powers to frame, enforce and monitor programmes should be delegate to the departments or other bodies, the presence of government units below district level is unnecessary except in matters of security and general administration, ministries with independent boards, authorities, development committees or councils pertaining to particular subjects should not have departments covering the same areas, and such bodies should be removed if a department already exists for such work, it is pointed out.

Similarly, the responsibility of such services as education and health should be given to local bodies, before carrying out privatization of corporations which can and should be handed over to the private sector, the ministry concerned should remain as investor rather than manager, one single body should be set up at district level for running services of the same nature for which there may be separate ministries or departments at the centre, and regional offices should be scrapped for areas for which there are departments at the center, other than those concerning the police, the post office and hospitals, it is stated.

Legal measures suggested by the report are that authorities should be designated by the civil service regulations so that all work relating to employee administration (transfer, evaluation of performance, etc) need not go higher the jurisdiction of the department chief.

Regulations pertaining to fiscal administration should be amended in such a way that all financial transactions except those expressely under the perview of the Finance Ministry, matters falling under the purview of the office of the Comptroller General, irregularities to be cleared or origional authorisation will rest with the department chief as final authority.

Arrangements should be made not to transfer department chiefs before two years in office unless they are found involved in corruption, are facing action under criminal law or have been promoted, and a department chief will be automatically retired if any programme for which he is responsible achieves less than 60 percent success for two years at a stretch or if such programmes achieve less than 50 percent success, it is also stated in the report.

Regional offices except police offices, hospitals and project offices should be removed, district cooperative and cottage industry offices disbanded, work relating to development training hitherto carried out by the cottage industry department and the department of cooperatives handed over to the cottage industry development committee and the National Cooperatives Board, the office of the district registrar brought under the Ministry of Local Development and a district level office of physical planning and construction opened for carrying out work concerning irrigation, drinking water, sewerage, housing and physical planning, it is further mentioned in the report.

The report also suggested that the district office of physical planning and construction should be under the Department of Housing and Urban Development for ensuring administrative control and small programmes to be carried out by the department of irrigation or the department of drinking water and sewerage in the district given out to that office on the basis of programme contract.

Health posts and Ayurved dispensaries operating at rural level should be handed over to the concerned VDC and the district public health office will be required to supply basic medicines to health posts after the hand-over.

As regards projects to be launched with loans, it is deemed proper to invest foreign loans only in productive areas which are likely to yield 15 percent or more internal returns but it is not proper to invest foreign loans in the areas of education, health, training and social welfare and government should facilitate providing of loans in an institutionalized manner.

The government should not invest foreign loans in public undertakings whose accounts have not been audited for nine months even after the expiry of the fiscal year, the report said adding that it is also not desirable to invest in projects for the maintenance of which amounts cannot be collected.

The budget should clearly mention the loan amount to be spent for a particular project, and internal loans should not be used for office spending, grants and physical property, the report said.

His Majesty's Government had formed a five member public expenditure review commission on aug 31

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