Bagmati Province fails to improve spending capacity

By Rammani Dahal,Hetauda, Feb. 19: Even after five years have passed since the election of the provincial assembly since the country embraced the federal structure, the capacity of the provincial government does not seem to have been relatively developed.

Even the Bagmati provincial government has failed to provide effective services to the citizens and accelerate development works in accordance with the expectations and realizations of the citizens during the first five-year tenure.

The government of Bagmati Province has not only been unable to make some laws and regulations of the single and common rights list for itself, but also has been unable to spend the budget it has prepared.

Although the Bagmati provincial government has brought in a budget of nearly Rs. 200 billion in the last five years, the fact that it spent less than Rs. 125 billion which confirmed that the performance capacity of the provincial government, including expenses, is poor.

The Office of the Chief Minister and Council of Ministers of Bagmati Province has announced the details of the works carried out by the provincial government in the last five years at a programme held at the Office of the Chief Minister and Council of the Ministers on Friday.

Publishing a commemoration book 'Five years of the Bagmati Province government', the provincial government mentioned as its achievement the introduction of specialised services in 13 regional hospitals of the province.

The five–year achievement memento released by Chief Minister Shalikram Jamkattel showed that around 761 km of unpaved roads, 779 km of gravel, 536 km of blacktopped roads, 154 km of concrete roads, 69 concrete bridges and seven suspension bridges have been completed.

Similarly, around 1,041 irrigation projects have been completed and irrigation facilities have been made available on 131,348 hectares of land and river control work has been started by preparing a master plan for control of 16 rivers.

During the period of five years, around 276 water supply projects have been completed and basic water services have been reached to 46,196 households.

Under the urban development and building infrastructure, 330 buildings and 434 parks have been constructed, 195 government offices have been repaired and the construction of 2,089 public housing has been completed.

It is said that the construction of 10 cold storages in nine districts of the province has reached the final stage during this period after the formation of the provincial government on February 11, 2018, which is expected to facilitate the storage of fruits and vegetables.

However, according to the achievements of the works carried out after the establishment of the provincial government, the indicator of the allocated budget and expenditure during the last five years of the provincial government is not satisfactory.

According to the released statistics, the provincial government has been able to spend only about 64 per cent (Rs. 122.46 billion) of the total budget allocation of Rs. 191.50 billion.

In the last fiscal year, the budget expenditure under capital heading is unsatisfactory compared to the recurrent one.

In the last five fiscal years, the provincial government has spent Rs. 53.39 billion of the total allocation of Rs. 79.19 billion under the recurrent budget.

Similarly, it has spent Rs. 66.36 billion of the total allocation of Rs. 108.30 billion of the capital budget allocation.

Similarly, it has been found that only Rs. 2.70 billion has been spent of the allocation of Rs. 4 billion for financial management during this period.

During the period of five years, around 70 laws with amendments, 11 ordinances, 33 regulations, five directives, 44 procedures, seven standards and 12 orders were issued.

The provincial government has counted declaring Bagmati Province as the first literate province of Nepal with 97.22 per cent literacy as one of its five-year achievements.

In the programme, Chief Minister Jamkattel asked to review the work of the government and move forward to achieve significant progress in the coming days.

Provincial Chief Secretary Mukunda Prasad Niraula and Chief Minister's Office Secretary Shivaram Gelal said that the Bagmati provincial government had made achievements in the midst of problems such as lack of staff and said that if the employees do not stay in the province, there are problems in performance.