A disaster of meaning in the name of 'national pride'

It is intended that projects considered important should be national priorities and the construction work should be completed quickly. In addition, it was expected that the economy could be accelerated through such projects. But the choice of name, purpose and meaning is as wide as it is, it has not got the progress and priority.

The series of 'National Pride Projects' started from the financial year 2068/69. At that time, the government had declared 17 projects of national pride. Four projects were announced in 2070/71 and one more in 2075/76, 2076/77 and 2077/78. In 13 years, 24 projects have been included in this list. Projects in different sectors like roads, railways, airports, drinking water, hydropower are on the list. It has been included in the list so that the project does not have budget problems and the problems that arise during construction are solved immediately. But these projects are in trouble. The budget is also not available enough. As a result, the construction of all the projects is slow. Time and energy are wasted when

projects are delayed in completion. An example is the Babai Irrigation Project. According to the contract, this project, which started in the financial year 2045/46, should be completed within 2069/70. However, according to the revised schedule, the target was to be completed by 2082/83. But it is claimed that the project will be completed by 2085/86 after seeing that the work cannot be completed even during this period. Likewise, the progress of the Sikta irrigation project has not been cut by 50 percent for two decades. It is claimed that the project will be completed by 2089/90 as per the revised deadline, but that is not reliable either. The

is another notable and serious aspect – cost escalation. The initial cost estimate of the Babai Irrigation Project in 2045/46 was Rs 2.87 billion 39 lakhs. Now the cost has been revised to 18 billion 963 million rupees. Similarly, in 2061/62, the initial cost estimate of the Sixta Irrigation Project was Rs 12.80 billion. Later it was revised to 52 billion 89 million rupees. So far, 21.48 billion rupees have been spent for this project. If we look at the inflation rate, the construction of two such projects would have been completed with the budget that has been spent so far in the name of Sikta.

After the construction was completed years ago, the people and the state should have started getting the benefits, but the budget has been poured and the time has been spent. Projects like Sikta have come into the limelight due to corruption rather than progress reports. Due to many reasons like this, the word 'national pride' is becoming a disaster. Although many projects have been listed in the 'projects of national pride', the status of these projects has not been different from other projects. Moreover, in the meantime, it was said that an 'Action Room' has been established in the office of the Prime Minister and the Council of Ministers, and continuous monitoring will be done from there, and the progress of the work can be viewed on the Prime Minister's mobile phone. Despite that, the collective progress of the projects remains disappointing.

When the projects that are listed or not in the list of 'National Pride' are stalled, not only the burden on the budget, but also the frustration of the citizens is increasing. Therefore, a system should be developed to ensure the availability of budget, to end the legal problems, and to solve the problems in the project area immediately. Coordination between all three levels of government should be increased. The trend of rapid transfer of project heads should also be stopped. Monitoring should be made effective. The construction of projects should be completed in a quality manner within the specified time. If it cannot be completed within the stipulated time, if the cost and time keep increasing, attaching 'glory' to such projects is a joke on the people.