Secys told to formulate work plans to reduce arrears

Finance Minister Shankar Prasad Koirala has instructed all secretaries and special class officers to furnish their respective work plans within three weeks to bring down arrears in their offices to a negligible level. “It´s a matter of great shame that we still have huge amount of accumulated arrears. As a finance minister, I urge all of you to propose your work plans within August 23, mentioning specific timeline to clear arrears in your respective offices,” Koirala told a meeting organized to discuss on implementation of the 50th Report of Auditor General (AG) here on Monday. The meeting was organized by the Committee on Implementation of Reports of Constitutional Bodies. Koirala, who is also the conveyor of the committee, urged all ministries and other bodies to set up a permanent unit to speed up the process of arrears settlement. Amid concern over violation of e-bidding rules by donor agencies, Koirala assured officials that the finance ministry would take necessary initiative to make donors follow the government rules while implementing programs being implemented under foreign assistance. Speaking at the meeting, Kishore Thapa, secretary at the Ministry of Urban Development complained that some donor agencies were flouting the e-bidding process and not maintaining transparency in their funding system. The Auditor General´s Report 2011/12 shows government offices had arrears worth Rs 204.25 billion in seven different forms, including unsettled advances, until the end of 2011/12. Arrears in government offices increased by Rs 35.07 billion in 2011/12 alone, according to the report. Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport, Ministry of Federal Affairs and Local Development, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Urban Development are among the ministries with high amount of arrears, the report shows. Presenting the status of implementation of AG´s 50th Report, Krishna Hari Banskota, member secretary of the committee, urged concerned ministries and other government bodies to divide arrears into three categories -- arrears to be regulated, arrears to be recovered and advances to be settled -- so as to make arrears settlement process more scientific. ´Mobilization advances major source of corruption´ KATHMANDU (REPUBLICA): Chief Secretary Lila Mani Poudel has said mobilization advances, which are issued to contractors before projects are commenced, are the main sources of corruption in government bodies. “There have been huge financial irregularities in the process of issuing mobilization advances. We can´t contain soaring arrears until and unless this system is brought to an end,” Poudel said at a meeting organized to discuss on implementation of the 50th Report of Auditor General (AG). “Unscrupulous contractors are found to have invested the advances in real estate and deliberately delaying the projects.” Poudel also stressed the need to introduce the system of financing from banks rather than continuing the practice of issuing public fund to project contractors in the form of mobilization advances. Strongly opposing the proposal to segregate advances from arrears made by some secretaries, Poudel said unsettled advances are the key form arrears. “The government decision of rewarding those bodies which showed best performance in settling arrears is another big mistake as it creates the situation that encourage officials to make more arrears lured by more incentives,” added Poudel. Poudel also directed the secretaries and chiefs of other government bodies to exercise their authority in order to make donor agencies abide by the government rules while implementing programs under foreign assistance.