Underutilisation of the capital budget has once again been highlighted in the Public Accounts Committee’s review of the Annual Audit Report for the financial year 2023–2024. According to the Annual Financial Statements, the revised capital budget was set at Nu 32.9bn, but Nu 26.8bn was actually spent, leaving a gap of some Nu 6bn. Parliamentarians raised the concern in the Parliament’s Joint Sitting today.
A capital budget is the government’s fund for long-term investments like infrastructure, schools, hospitals, roads, and development projects.
But, trends show some portion of this money is always unspent. The Public Accounts Committee said the main reasons are poor planning, delays in the procurement process, and limited capacity of government agencies to carry out projects on time.
According to the committee, the problem was worst in 2020, when around 30 per cent of the capital budget wasn’t used, mainly because of COVID-19 disruptions. Although things have improved a bit since then, the issue still hasn’t been fully resolved.
To address this issue, the committee recommended implementing performance-based budgeting. This means future budgets should be based on how well agencies use their funds and complete the projects. The goal is to ensure better use of public money and faster delivery of development programmes.
However, a few members raised concerns over the recommendation.
“If we use this performance-based budgeting, we will need efficient and adequate human resources. Secondly, the location of 20 districts and 205 gewogs is not the same. There are rural districts and districts near the ministry. For example, if we do monitoring, the time taken will be different. The same work that takes just a week to complete in Paro might take nearly a month in Trashi Yangtse. My concern is that performance-based budgeting might undermine balanced regional development,” said Tshering Tshomo, MP, Zhemgang, National Council.
“When it comes to Local Government, some gewogs are located in remote areas and face challenges, especially in terms of having sufficient human resources. That’s why I cannot support the committee’s recommendation. Instead, I recommend fixing accountability for why the budget was not utilised,” said Lam Dorji, Wamrong MP, Trashigang, National Assembly.
“If we follow this recommendation, many rural districts will be left behind. Even in their own report, the reasons for budget underutilisation are clearly stated: first, a lack of human resources; second, delays in planning; third, inadequate project monitoring; and fourth, delays in budget disbursement,” said Tempa Dorji, Maenbi-Tsaenkhar MP, Lhuentse, National Assembly.
The speaker directed the Office of the Cabinet Affairs and Strategic Coordination to report on measures and solutions in the upcoming winter session to prevent the issue of underutilisation.
Samten Dolkar & Devika Pradhan
Edited by Tandin Phuntsho
