Koshi Province Allocates Large Budget for DPR and Consulting Services

Biratnagar. A large portion of the budget has been allocated in the upcoming fiscal year (2083/084) annual program of the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure Development of Koshi Province in the name of DPR and consulting services across the province.

Dozens of small projects for DPR, environmental studies, and consulting are listed for each district and infrastructure development office.

Lakhs of rupees have been allocated for the DPR of roads, bridges, and suspension bridges that are not yet implemented but have been selected based on access. For example, on pages 19 and 20 of the budget book alone, dozens of small titles are listed for the DPR and environmental studies of roads, road bridges, and suspension bridges in various districts of the province.

In just two pages, there are 54 separate programs for DPR and environmental studies (consulting). Page 19 alone has a total of 33 projects for DPR and environmental studies. Page 20 alone has 21 projects for DPR and environmental studies.

For road bridges, 30 lakh rupees per project has been allocated for 13 projects, totaling 3 crore 90 lakh rupees. Similarly, for environmental studies, 25 lakh rupees per project has been allocated for 15 projects, totaling 3 crore 75 lakh rupees. Likewise, 2 crore 80 lakh rupees has been allocated for 14 road bridge projects at a rate of 20 lakh rupees per project.

Similarly, for the DPR of suspension bridges, 5 lakh rupees per project has been allocated for 12 projects, totaling 60 lakh rupees. In these two pages, 19 and 20 alone, the ministry has allocated 11 crore 25 lakh rupees for 54 small consulting and DPR projects.

In addition to this, 1 crore 80 lakh rupees has been allocated for PITAP consulting under the Rural Road Network Improvement Project Implementation Unit, Morang.

Similarly, 1 crore 50 lakh rupees has been set aside for bridge consulting under the Rural Road Network Improvement Project, Morang. 82 lakh rupees has been allocated for research and consulting under the ministry, while 1 crore rupees has been set aside for road bridge DPR alone.

15 lakh rupees for road DPR, 50 lakh rupees for road DPR, and 25 lakh rupees for suspension bridges requiring DPR have been allocated separately in the budget book. Apart from these, budget has been allocated for DPR of dozens of projects.

According to technical and infrastructure experts, this flood of DPRs is itself a product of major financial indiscipline. Generally, after the DPR is prepared, resources should be ensured for the construction of that project, but in the case of Koshi Province, hundreds of projects for which DPRs were prepared in previous years have been left in limbo due to lack of budget. Allocating crores of rupees again for new DPRs while old DPRs gather dust in drawers only benefits consultancy operators and middlemen.

DPRs Worth Crores Have Been Done Before

The Detailed Project Report (DPR) has also been a subject of irregularity pointed out by the Auditor General's report from the beginning. The Auditor General's report mentions that the ministry has spent crores of rupees in the name of preparing DPR.

According to preliminary data, the Koshi Province Ministry of Physical Infrastructure Development alone has spent 32 crore 96 thousand rupees on DPRs in six fiscal years, according to the Auditor General's report.

According to the report of the Office of the Auditor General, in the fiscal year 2074/075, out of the ministry's 14 crore budget, 3 crore 53 lakh 40 thousand was spent on detailed design and cost estimation for projects such as road bridges, river control, view towers, drinking water, irrigation, suspension bridge construction, integrated development related work, architectural structure, electrical and sanitary design of buildings in various districts. In the fiscal year 2075/076, for detailed design and cost estimation of 25 projects related to information centers, senior citizen buildings, bridges, irrigation, roads, and open defecation-free areas in various districts, separate detailed designs and cost estimations were obtained from various firms without competition, spending 1 crore 88 lakh 98 thousand.

Similarly, in the fiscal year 2076/077, 1 crore 69 lakh 46 thousand rupees were spent on design and cost estimation through consulting services. In the fiscal year 2077/078, 1 crore 19 lakh 15 thousand rupees were spent through consultants for detailed feasibility study and detailed project report preparation for drinking water projects and smart cities.

In the fiscal year 2078/079, the Infrastructure Development Office Sankhuwasabha and Udayapur and the Urban Development and Building Office Morang under the same ministry (later renamed Ministry of Road Infrastructure and Urban Development) spent 99 lakh 20 thousand rupees on preparing detailed project reports for 13 projects.

This trend has not stopped yet. In the fiscal year 2079/080, three offices including the Infrastructure Development Office Sankhuwasabha and Okhaldhunga and the Urban Development and Building Office Okhaldhunga prepared detailed project reports for 39 projects and spent 6 crore 72 lakh 21 thousand rupees, it is reported.

Article 9, Sub-article (3) of the Provincial Level Project Selection and Classification Procedure 2080 states, 'Before preparing the detailed feasibility study and DPR, the DPR should be prepared only after identifying the need for the project and conducting a pre-feasibility study with the approval of the concerned ministry and the Provincial Planning Commission.'

Former Vice-Chairman of Koshi Province Planning Commission, Purna Luxam, said that he felt that jobs were being created for cadres by arbitrarily preparing DPRs. He said, 'Preparing DPR without ensuring investment is embezzlement of government funds. The main thing is to do only what you have in your pocket.'

Luxam said that the principle of preparing DPR only after putting the project in the project bank has not yet been implemented.

Former Minister of Physical Infrastructure Development, Bhupendra Rai, said that the process of preparing DPR everywhere and for any project should be stopped.

'DPRs done in 074 have not been implemented. If it is not implemented, preparing its DPR is meaningless,' he said.

Former Vice-Chairman of Koshi Province Planning Commission, Subodhraj Pyakurel, said that DPRs are being prepared for cadres rather than considering capacity and future work. 'To deceive the public and to keep a token even if work cannot be done, projects remain due to this mentality. Everyone is involved in preparing DPR for those projects,' he said.

He said that this work is easy because it is done on paper sitting at a table. 'A field visit is sufficient 3 to 4 times at most. They add variations in the DPR,' he said.