KATHMANDU: Prime Minister (PM) KP Sharma Oli has expressed his commitment to radically improving the style, pace, and culture of the country’s development, announcing the end of the trend of ‘always working but never finishing.’
Responding to questions raised in the House of Representatives (HoR) today, Prime Minister Oli reiterated his concerns about the ‘work in progress’ trend mentioned last year, emphasizing that the country’s development cannot move forward without changing this approach.
He stated that result-oriented planning and implementation are necessary to maximize the use of limited resources. Prime Minister Oli clarified that all infrastructure projects announced by the previous government have been re-prioritized, as they focused more on starting work rather than completing what had already been initiated.
As the saying goes, “Whatever comes, digest it with pleasure,” Prime Minister Oli explained that the focus should not be on enjoying what already exists, but rather on continuing what is useful and abandoning what is irrelevant.
This approach led to the proposal to re-prioritize all infrastructure projects announced by various past governments.
Prime Minister Oli also emphasized that new projects will be launched with a clear business plan, including feasibility studies, risk assessments, cash flow, and legal security.
He said, “I had mentioned that we should be clear about where to invest our limited resources and what results we will achieve from it. Therefore, the proposal to change the pattern, pace, and culture of development to address the shortcomings in the development process is new. The commitment to implement this change is also new.”
He added that a policy will be implemented to review projects of national pride under the declared goal of completing the work already started. Ongoing projects will be classified as ‘to be completed in the financial year 2082/83’ and completed within the set time frame.
He also highlighted that necessary resources will be estimated for all ongoing and upcoming projects, and those that are unlikely to be completed will be postponed, while defective projects will be rejected.
As an example, he mentioned the restructuring of the Prime Minister’s Agriculture Modernization Program, which now provides land banks, finance, equipment, and other inputs, along with crop insurance management, support prices, advance purchase agreements for agricultural produce, and market management and storage for those entering the agricultural business.
He clarified that the policy of preventing the wastage of resources by re-managing fertilizer, electricity, and other capital subsidies is also a new measure.
Additionally, the policy of focusing on the ‘cycle to market’ for promoting startups and entrepreneurship is being introduced for the first time.
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