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Due to the fact that the procurement regulations are revised several times to suit the interests of the construction industry, but the problem of not completing the project on time has raised doubts. Looking at the frequent revisions of the procurement regulations, it seems that the government has been revising the regulations many times under the pressure of the construction industry. Government amending the procurement rules for the eighth time in five years is a vivid example of this.
The last time only last week, the government made the 13th amendment of procurement regulation 064. Along with this, the way has been opened to extend the deadline as per the need for the expired projects. Builders can apply for extension within 30 days from the date of amendment of the regulations. In the amendment, there is a provision that the deadline can be extended according to the schedule submitted by the construction business in the case where the work cannot be completed within the contract period. However, there is also a provision in the regulation that no additional financial claims can be made due to the revised schedule and extension of the deadline.
Since 076, it seems that the government has been revising the procurement regulations under the pressure of businessmen. The regulations have been amended five times during the tenure of KP Sharma Oli, two during the tenure of Sher Bahadur Deuba and once during the tenure of Pushpa Kamal Dahal. In 2076, only when Oli was the Prime Minister, the regulations were amended four times. The sixth amendment 076 was made on 30 Baisakh, the seventh amendment 076 on 23 May, the eighth amendment 076 on 16 July and the ninth amendment 076 on 14 January. Even when the 10th amendment was made for the fifth time on May 15, 2077, Oli was the Prime Minister. The regulations were amended twice when Deuba was the Prime Minister.
When Deuba took the leadership of the government, the 11th amendment was made on 03 Chait 078 and the 12th amendment on 079 Asar 20. The government led by Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal decided to amend for the 13th time last week. Rather than the question of why the policy was revised, the relevant government should be able to answer the question of what was the achievement of the revised regulation, why the target was not achieved as intended. Because no project was completed on time due to the amendment of the regulations, nor were new projects added. Neither the government's capital expenditure increased, nor much foreign investment.
In recent years, the trend of revising policies to benefit limited individuals or groups has been increasing. Such policy amendments, which are not for the benefit of the nation as a whole, but for the interests of certain groups, have harmed the country on the one hand, and on the other hand, it is a matter of concern that extreme political corruption is rampant. In order to understand the purpose of the revision of the latest procurement regulations, the dispute between the government and the contractor regarding the payment of construction workers from the beginning of the current financial year should be looked at closely. Throughout the current financial year, the government has faced a lot of criticism for not paying even for projects that have been completed. Due to non-payment of builders, government expenditure has not increased, demand for construction materials has decreased, construction work has come to a standstill, loan demand in banks has not increased, and overall economic activity has not become sustainable.
There is no doubt that the government should extend the deadline for projects that could not be completed on time due to legitimate reasons. However, the tendency of every government to amend the regulations according to its interests but not to confirm its necessity and justification is never good. Economic mismanagement, crudeness in policy making, lack of policy implementation are old problems of Nepal. There are also medium-term and structural problems that must be done to improve the economy. Youth unemployment, low productivity, high costs, collapsed exports, weak financial system, taxes and production dependent on remittances and imports, high debt are facing problems. Addressing these structural problems requires government and economic-political leadership of different styles and capabilities. However, the arrogance of the government that says whatever I do in the political leadership, the growing arrogance in policies and programs has not benefited the country. Managing the sheer number of
projects and the resulting liabilities has become a sensitive issue. The tendency to contract without ensuring the budget has created more problems. The magnitude of mandatory obligations is large and there is a tendency not to abolish structures that are seen as unnecessary. Utilization capacity of foreign aid is weak. The average allocation for such use is only about 50 percent. Keeping the reserve fund balanced and discouraging non-budgetary demand has become a tricky issue.
Imbalance between the government's income and expenditure, tendency to propose budget without adequate preparation, increasing amount of government debt and high payment obligations, high amount of mandatory obligations and low financial range for investment in development infrastructure are the main challenges. Solving these problems and increasing production and productivity through expansion of economic activities in the real sector is the main responsibility of the government. For this, the government should increase the development expenditure to a large extent. Let the government pay attention to this.
