KATHMANDU, DEC 23 - With capital expenditure remaining dismal, lawmakers on Monday grilled Prime Minister Sushil Koirala o

Koirala also faced questions over obstruction in development projects, mainly hydropower entities, by ruling party cadres. A joint meeting of three parliamentary committees—Development Committee, Agriculture and Water Resource Committee and Finance Committee—had called the PM and ministers over the sluggish development spending.

As in the past, the government has been unable to spend money allocated for development works. In the first five months of the fiscal year, capital expenditure is only Rs 10.5 billion—9 percent of the Rs116.75 billion earmarked for the sector. As a result, the treasury had Rs72 billion on Monday.

“How can the country prosper when just Rs 10 billion is spent in five months?” said Rabindra Adhikari, chairman of the Parliamentary Development Committee.

Another lawmaker questioned whether the ruling parties should take responsibility for the obstruction made by their cadres in development projects. Hydropower projects in Sindhupalchok and Ramechhap districts have been crippled by the obstruction led by the cadres of the ruling Nepali Congress and the CPN-UML. They are demanding shares in the projects.

Finance Committee Chairman Prakash Jwala questioned the tendency of awarding a project to the lowest bidder even if one quotes as low as 70 percent of the estimated cost.

As per the existing Public Procurement Act, the lowest bidder is awarded the contract. Land acquisition, shortage of construction materials, delayed permits for felling trees and removing electricity poles are other problems facing the projects, according to officials.

The reported tendency is to spend without making decisions, fearing action from the Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority.

Lawmaker Gagan Thapa, who chairs the parliamentary Agriculture and Water Resource Committee, said there should be reward and punishment for officials for the use or abuse of their authority.

According to Finance Secretary Suman Sharma, the government had aimed to spend 20 percent of the capital budget in the period. In an improved sign, the weekly capital expenditure had been Rs1 billion over the past three weeks.

According to the Finance Ministry, a bad trend set in the past few years was to spend 70 percent of the capital budget in the last quarter.

“Average capital expenditure in the past few years has been 85 percent but the question is whether the spending was effective,” said Sharma.

Delayed project approval has also been blamed for the inaction. According to Chief Secretary Leela Mani Paudyal, the National Planning Commission has yet to approve 12 priority projects.