Secretary of the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport Arjun Kumar Karki told the parliamentary Development Committee on Wednesday that political commitment was required to eliminate the pervasive transport syndicates that have made life hard for the general public.

The transport syndicates do not allow travellers and shippers to choose the company they want. Likewise, transport companies have to wait their turn to ply their routes according to a rotation system. The anti-competitive practice has been harming consumers in various ways. It controls prices of goods and services and the burden is passed on to consumers, Karki said.

In February 2011, the Supreme Court had issued a mandamus order to the government to end the syndicate system in the transportation sector. However, the government has so far failed to curb the ill practice. The role of the private sector too has not been very supportive towards ending syndicates and cartels.

Karki accused transporters of running a parallel government and flouting the laws of the land. “Many of the buses serving long routes get a chance to operate their services only four times a month,” he said, adding that mini trucks operating on Araniko Highway were allowed to do business only once a month.

On Wednesday, the Karnali Transport Entrepreneurs Association prevented a new company from operating services by calling an indefinite strike on Karnali Highway. A few days ago, a number of people were injured when transporters vandalized a new vehicle that started services on the Arughat-Gorkha route.

Government officials said that the syndicate system was also one of the reasons behind the frequent occurrences of road accidents. Madhab Kumar Karki, director general of the Roads Department, said that the accident rate had been growing over the past years.  He added that the government had accorded priority to ensuring road safety. According to him, the government will be investing Rs700 million to promote road safety in the next fiscal year.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport said that the National Planning Commission had increased its budget ceiling to Rs55 billion from Rs48 billion in the last fiscal year.  Of the proposed budget, Rs46 billion will be allocated for the construction and improvement of roads. Secretary Karki said they had asked for additional funding of Rs15 billion.

According to him, the construction of mid-hill highway projects, east-west railways, postal highway, Koshi corridor, Budhi Gandaki corridor, Karnali corridor and Thankot-Naubise tunnel highway, among others, are the key priority projects for the next fiscal year.  Speaking at the House panel meeting on Wednesday, lawmakers raised concern over the delayed projects. They accused the authorities concerned of showing various unjustifiable reasons for the projects running late.  Lawmaker Prakash Sharma Paudel said many projects had been delayed due to the negligence of the contractors.   Likewise, another lawmaker Ganesh Singh Thagunna blamed the government’s budget transfer system for the delays. He urged the government to delegate the authority to transfer budgets to the line ministries instead of the Finance Ministry.