Of the previously suspended projects, 2,042 have been cancelled. The projects previously suspended by the Ministry of Finance due to unnecessary expenses, incomplete preparations, and non-economic returns were worth Rs 101.9 billion. Out of that, Rs 52.9 billion, or 2,042 projects, have been cancelled. The Ministry of Finance has stated that these projects were cancelled before 17 Falgun 2082. 

The projects that were in the process of opening bids or publishing bid notices or that required continuation of past work were identified and the aforementioned projects were cancelled based on the request sent by the concerned ministry, according to the end-of-term report made public by Finance Minister Rameshwor Khanal on Thursday. 

‘It was decided to suspend Rs 19.6 billion out of the allocation made for the election operation and security within the existing budget, including unnecessary expenditure and projects that were not prepared and did not yield financial returns,’ the report says. ‘Based on the requests sent by the concerned ministries, Rs 52.9 billion has been released for 2,042 projects that are in the process of opening bids or publishing bid notices or for which the continuation of past work is required,’

The ministry also said that the working procedure has been revised to discourage the practice of giving multi-year consent. During this period, multi-year consent has been given only for one project (Dailekh-Madabulek-Jumla Khalanga road) and one material (Raidani) purchase contract. It is said that the work of bringing back all the government vehicles and security personnel used by former office bearers without authorization has been completed. The ministry says that the facilities of incumbent office bearers who are taking the facilities of personal secretary, which are not provided for in the law, have been stopped.’

‘Within the period specified by the Financial Procedures and Fiscal Responsibility Act, the work of sending sectoral budget ceilings to ministries and agencies within the limit of Rs 1890 billion recommended by the Financial Procedures and Fiscal Responsibility Act has been completed,’ the report states. ‘Around Rs 122 billion has been collected so far for the infrastructure tax (Indicator No. 11455), which was launched with the announcement of raising the necessary resources to build the Budhigandaki Reservoir Hydropower Project.’ 

The Ministry of Finance has stated that around Rs 45 billion has been spent on the preparation of the project. However, in the context of the project’s financial investment model and lack of source assurance, the construction work has not progressed due to the lack of investment model and source assurance, the Ministry has stated that the amount raised for the infrastructure tax each year will be invested in the company set up to build the project for the next eight years from the subsequent appropriation, and the debt: equity ratio of such investment will be 70:30.

Finance Minister Khanal has prepared a 114-point end-of-term report covering the progress of the two ministries entrusted to him. The Department of Internal Revenue has started seeking assistance under the Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement with a foreign country for the first time. Under this, the ministry has requested the Indian tax authorities to send details of businessmen doing business in Nepal but staying in India without paying taxes to help in tax collection.

Finance Minister Khanal has terminated the Double Taxation Avoidance and Prevention of Financial Fraud Agreement signed between Nepal and Mauritius. The ministry has said that it has received information about this and requested to initiate a new agreement.