With the government aiming to focus only on implementable and result-oriented projects and programs for the upcoming fiscal year 2082/83, over 10,000 projects listed in the National Project Bank have been removed.
Due to the growing trend of submitting random project entries to claim budget allocations, the National Planning Commission has rendered the old Project Bank inactive. Dr. Prakash Kumar Shrestha, a member of the Commission, informed the Finance Committee under the House of Representatives on Wednesday that the old Project Bank has been completely shut down and a new one has been established. However, he clarified that the old one has been kept as a backup and good projects have been transferred to the new system.
“The Project Bank had become extremely disorganized. It contained over 18,000 projects. Last year alone, around 11,000 projects were entered at the last moment,” Dr. Shrestha said at the meeting. “Some entries contained only the project name with no other details.”
By now, over 6,200 projects have been entered into the new Project Bank. Of these, 3,180 are new projects. Although the Commission had set a guideline that projects to be included in the upcoming budget must be entered into the Project Bank by the end of Chaitra, the entry of new projects is still ongoing.
Most of the projects in the new bank are related to infrastructure, according to Dr. Shrestha. The Ministry of Urban Development alone has entered more than 2,425 projects, followed by the Ministry of Drinking Water with over 2,118 and the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport with over 1,100.
The Commission has established guidelines mandating that all projects to be included in the annual budget must be entered into the Project Bank. According to the “National Project Bank (Operation and Management) Guidelines, 2081,” projects must include clear objectives, goals, timelines, and budget estimates. Projects that are well-prepared, result in public assets upon completion, and are related to infrastructure, economic, social, cultural, environmental, or other development sectors are considered eligible.
The source of funding must also be disclosed. All projects funded by the government, foreign or internal loans or grants must be entered into the bank. Projects under public-private partnerships or those executed by provincial or local governments with national priority are also required to be included.
Only projects with a cost or allocation of more than NPR 30 million are to be entered. Additionally, only non-recurrent or non-annual projects are eligible for inclusion in the Project Bank.
According to the guidelines, projects for the upcoming fiscal year should have been entered by the end of Falgun of the current fiscal year. However, for FY 2082/83, the deadline was extended to the end of Chaitra. Despite this, the entry of projects by various ministries and agencies is still ongoing, which goes against the provisions of the current guidelines.
The Project Bank system was introduced to discourage the random inclusion of projects in the budget. Projects lacking proper preparation, assured funding, or with low cost-effectiveness were frequently being added, prompting this reform. The system is also required to be integrated with various other government information systems.
It must be interconnected with the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework, supplementary and special grant systems, the Budget Management Information System in coordination with the Ministry of Finance, the Electronic Procurement System in coordination with the Public Procurement Monitoring Office, and the Integrated Online Monitoring System with the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers.
Several mandatory documents must be submitted when entering a project into the Project Bank. These include the detailed engineering design or detailed project report, environmental study reports (initial, brief, or full environmental impact assessments), land acquisition plans if necessary, procurement plans, implementation schedules, and outcome frameworks.
Many projects in the old Project Bank lacked these documents, leading to their exclusion. However, questions remain about the quality of projects that have been included in the new Project Bank.
