Issues with Development Projects in Nepal: A Case Study of the Development Projects in Nepal and its Issues Using the Agent Based Approach (ABA)

In the past few years in Nepal, even though many development projects have been initiated; they have not fared as per the expectations. There are immense sets of challenges towards initiating and completing development projects. In reality, it is also not unusual for the Nepal government to initiate development projects without proper planning and accounting for the resources that it would require. In addition, even those projects which have been initiated with proper planning have faced tremendous challenges, and have been subjected to major delays. For the purpose of this report, we are looking at only those projects which are classified as the “National Pride Projects” in Nepal. The National Pride Projects are mostly infrastructure projects of the government of Nepal, based upon the proposal of the National Planning Commission, which have been initiated with the ambition of improving the social, economic, cultural and environmental aspects of the general public. Most of these projects have not been able to meet their targeted completion date due to many factors.

This paper discusses the issues that are present in these development projects using the Distinction-Systems-Relationships-Perspectives (DSRP) rule. With this, we try to understand the entire ecosystem under which these projects are implemented. Using the Agent-Based Analysis (ABA) approach which utilizes the Complex Adaptive System (CAS) perspective as a frame, we further delve deeper into understanding the system based upon the interactions made between different agents to make recommendations for improvements. This report looks at these systems, the role that different agents play in these systems (whether that is the government, the judiciary, the private sector or the community), and the relationship and interactions they have with each other to make recommendations on what could be done to improve the efficiency of the implementation of the development projects.