KATHMANDU: The government has prepared a public investment management action plan to be implemented within 5 years.

The action plan prepared by the National Planning Commission to make public expenditure efficient and orderly has been implemented with the approval of the recent cabinet meeting.

The action plan has identified the problem of failure of government bodies in spending a significant portion (on average 30 to 40 percent) of the amount allocated through the annual budget and program for the development of public infrastructure.

The action plan in which the problem has also been identified mentions, "Since the allocated amount could not be spent within the stipulated time, the project completion period is increasing compared to the initial estimate and the project cost is also increasing. There is a situation where the people are being deprived of using the service facilities on time."

Yamlal Bhusal, the Acting Secretary of NPC, said that the action plan brought to increase the effectiveness of government spending will help to increase the effectiveness of investments in projects run by the government, public institutions and public-private investment.

The action plan mentions that the National Project Bank will be reformed in a phased manner. The project bank operation procedures will also be formulated.

Similarly, the second goal is to organize the capital project portfolio through regular and transparent central monitoring. Under this section, the NPC will be made responsible for submitting quarterly and annual monitoring reports with detailed information about the project portfolio.

The action plan has also set targets to increase transparency in investment projects included in the budget and to prepare and implement guidelines for the regular maintenance of public infrastructure. The Ministry of Finance will be responsible for publishing detailed capital expenditure data at the sectoral and project levels, along with the annual budget, to show how investments from non-budgetary funds, public institutions, public-private partnerships, provincial and local levels, and development partners are being utilized.

In order to ensure effective and transparent monitoring of public procurement, the action plan has set goals such as improving the electronic public procurement system, improving the central monitoring and inspection of investment projects through public institutions and public-private partnerships, and making necessary arrangements to strengthen project management.

The main work to be done to achieve each of these goals and the agencies and officials responsible for the same have also been specified in the action plan.

Questions are often raised about the ineffectiveness of government spending. In the absence of integrated details of the projects operated by three levels of government, funds are allocated twice for the same project from more than one level of government or from different agencies of the same level of government.

“After the implementation of this action plan, it is expected that there will be no budget allocation for projects or programs that have not been adequately prepared and are not financially and technically feasible,” said Acting Secretary Bhusal.