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Election Code of Conduct Hampers Development Projects

  1 min 44 sec to read

July 25: Election process this year has severely affected many development projects as the election code of conduct was in place while the government announced budget.

Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport got the largest share of budget for the fiscal year 2017/18. However, some major projects under the ministry have become uncertain due to the government’s decision to hold the local level polls in phase-wise manner.

Three of the projects identified by the ministry have been hit by the election deferral, which was initially announced for May 14.

The projects suffered setbacks as the election code of conduct was in place when the budget was announced.

The constitution had set the deadline of May 29 as the date for budget announcement while the opposition parties were demanding the government not bring any programmes that could possibly influence the election results.

The new projects and programmes were announced as per the understanding reached between the political parties amid this backdrop. As a result, the projects prepared by the ministry had to be dropped while announcing the budget.

Since the local elections held after 20 years couldn’t take place in one phase on May 14, the projects suffered setbacks as the date of budget announcement clashed with the election date.

Despite having adequate budget, various projects couldn’t get approval due to political instability.

Under-secretary at the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport Rajendra Raj Sharma said that the ministry had given priority to study the feasibility of new roads, tunnels and flyovers in Kathmandu Valley. The ministry was interested in 40 kilometers road parallel to the Prithvi Highway on the other side of Trishuli River while it was planning to study the feasibility of four tunnels and flyovers in Kathmandu. However, the projects had to be dropped as the election code of conduct was in place during budget announcement.

However, the ministry is hopeful that the projects can get back on track if the government announces supplementary budget. 

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