Gandaki gears up to draw second five-year plan

BY PHADINDRA ADHIKARI,Lekhnath, Feb. 1: In the final year of the Gandaki Province's first five-year plan, the province has reviewed old plans and formulated new ones. It has prepared a concept paper for the second five-year plan and conducted district-level discussions.

However, the implementation of the first five-year plan appears to be very weak. Out of the 16 indicators of prosperity and 12 indicators of happiness set in the plan, only one indicator of happiness has been achieved while progress has been made in only 10 indicators of prosperity. Among the 23 pride projects, three have been implemented, five have been started and remaining 15 have not even commenced. 

Gandaki Province Chief Minister Surendra Raj Pandey said that the infrastructural development was not sufficient in itself, instead ways to develop employment and economy should be identified. He said, "Villages will lose existence without economic activities, so as the cities. Instead of pointing out problems, give solutions."

He said that due to the lack of proper coordination with the local government and federal government's unwillingness to provide constitutional rights, the province faced challenges in collecting taxes and implementing plans.

A leader from the main opposition party in Gandaki, Khagaraj Adhikari, said that coordination with the local bodies and put pressure in the federal government should go hand in hand for resources. Similarly, stakeholders recommend investing in potential sectors such as tourism, agriculture and energy to boost employment and economic activities.

Meanwhile, preparations for the second plan are under way with expectations to submit the preliminary suggestions by mid-February and prepare the final draft including the directives of the Chief Minister and ministers and discussions with experts by mid-March, informed Gandaki Provincial Policy and Planning Commission vice-chair Dr. Krishna Chandra Devkota. 

He said, "We are planning to prepare the new plan within mid-April and align the budget for the upcoming year with the new five-year plan."

According to vice-chair Devkota, efforts were being made to coordinate between the 16th plan of the federal government and provincial plans. He said, "Province will present new plans based on the roadmaps of the 16th plan."

Gandaki Provincial Policy and Planning Commission member Dr. Subash Adhikari said that they would coordinate with local bodies for the effective implementation of the plans. 

Similarly, province-local level partnership programmes will be introduced with a target to make the partnership plans accessible in all levels in five years. 

There are 14 and 10 strategies set in the plans of the central and provincial government respectively. 

The provincial government has given first priority to the agriculture in the upcoming plan followed by industry and tourism.