No concrete plan for Karnali in new budget: Stakeholders

By Our Correspondent,Surkhet, May 31: In the budget of the federal government for the next fiscal year, only a few new plans and programmes have been included along with the continuation of the previous programmes for the Karnali Province.

In the annual fiscal budget presented by Finance Minister Barsaman Pun on Tuesday, the old plans to speed up the Karnali and Bheri Corridor road projects have been continued. 

The budget has maintained that five concrete bridges and 50 km of road upgrading will be completed in the Karnali Corridor.

Similarly, the plan to upgrade the Kohalpur-Surkhet Ratna Highway, Karnali Highway has been continued in the budget this year as well. 

The existing plan to formulate a master plan to make Bheriganga in Surkhet a modern hill station has been continued.

A budget of Rs. 2 billion has been allocated for the construction of the head box and powerhouses of the Bheri-Babai multi-purpose project, one of the national pride projects. 

In health sector, the budget has proposed to establish a medical college in Surkhet and upgrading Karnali Institute of Health Sciences and reached 500 beds.

For the energy development in Karnali, the 417 MW Nalsingad Hydropower Project, 280 MW Naumure Multi-purpose Hydropower Project and the 106 MW semi-reservoir Jagdulla Hydropower in Dolpa will be taken forward from the next fiscal year, said FM Pun.

An ambitious plan has been introduced to carry out a detailed engineering study of the Karnali Chisapani Hydropower Project of 10,800 megawatts, which has the potential to produce electricity in the largest amount in Nepal. 

Finance Minister Pun said that the expansion of Surkhet and Jumla airports would be completed in the next fiscal year.

Similarly, the budget has proposed to advance the prosperous Karnali entrepreneurship programme based on agriculture and forest, agricultural corridor in Salyan, Marsi Corridor in Tila of Jumla and Hima river area and development of Karnali as a hub of herb.

Around Rs. 820 million has been allocated for the Integrated Karnali Irrigation Development Programme to be operated in all 10 districts of Karnali.

A budget of Rs. 600 million has been allocated for conducting 10 national sports competitions to be held in Surkhet in November 2024. In addition, it is said that the construction of sports infrastructure will be accelerated in Karnali targeting to conduct the 10th National Sports Competition.

A budget of Rs. 21.60 billion has been allocated for the reconstruction of safe physical infrastructure after surveying the damage caused by the earthquake.

No concrete plans for infrastructure development: Bhandari

Ghanashyam Bhandari, a member of the Karnali Province Assembly, commented that concrete plans for infrastructure development have not come up in fiscal budget of the federal government. 

He said that although some ambitious plans have been included, no concrete plan has come in the budget of federal government.

The budget has given continuity to the old plans and programmes, but those plans have not yet been implemented according to the budget, he said, expressing doubt that the programmes included this time would also be implemented.

He blamed that the budget has not properly maintained with solid plans for tourism development of Karnali, Surkhet Airport expansion, Bheri and Karnali Corridor construction.

Depends on working style: Dhakal

Pitamber Dhakal, a civil society leader and former dean of the Faculty of Humanities at the Midwestern University, said that it would depend on the style of implementation of the government's budget and programmes for their effectiveness.

He said that how appropriate these programmes were would depend on the working style of the government and concerned bodies.

He said that Karnali was lagging behind when the distribution-oriented plan was made based on distributor.

Dhakal said that Karnali and Bheri corridor, which is the main requirement of Karnali, had not been constructed yet. 

He commented that there should be a solid plan for these corridors, which had been presented in a way that was still controversial.

Karnali still being left behind: Kandel

Laxman Kandel, President of Surkhet Chamber of Commerce and Industry, has said that he felt that Karnali Province was still being left behind. 

He said that the government's attention had not reached the tourist area of Karnali and it had been left behind.

He said that although some programmes were positive, only a few topics were covered to increase the source of income of Karnali. 

He said that the issue of making Karnali as herb hub, Jumla as a Marsi corridor and Salyan as an agricultural corridor was commendable.