The two-day Chief Ministers’ Meeting organized by the Gandaki Province Government was focused on listing out common agendas for the Inter-state Council meeting to be held in Kathmandu on September 09, 2018.

The meeting saw discussions on the current status of governance across local bodies, issues and ways to resolve them.

Speaking on the sidelines of the meeting, Gandaki Province Chief Minister (CM) Prithvi Subba Gurung said that the meeting is in line with the constitutional provision for federal structure that marks the significance of CM’s role in development after Prime Minister.

In the meeting, majority of the CMs said the federal government failed in timely devolution of powers to provincial governments, leading to discrepancies in key areas like defining laws, human resources and required budgets.

Because of this, provincial governments failed to deliver the required support to local bodies, they added.

“This has led to a situation, wherein we’ve not been able to send the message to the people that provincial government is at work despite being six months in power,” said CMs.

They claimed that provinces will not able to deliver the expected unless local administration, civil servants and police are under their jurisdiction.

Raising serious concerns over implementation of budget, policy and programs even six months after the formation of provincial bodies, CMs urged the Center to handover all the physical infrastructure and other properties to the provinces.

They urged for the formation of the ‘National Natural Resources and Financial Commission’ at the earliest possible.

Let’s take a glance at what Chief Ministers of various Provincial Governments said in the Summit:

It’s obvious that questions would be raised against the federal government as the constitution has allocated all the rights to it including that of transition period, civil servants, managing resources, formation of police organization and right to draft laws regarding the list of common rights. Since the provincial governments would be responsible for the failure of federal system, we have taken the initiative to organize the gathering and play constructive role. – Prithvi Subba Gurung, Chief Minister of Gandaki Province

Provinces have brought the budget, but there is no mechanism to implement. Old structures have been removed. The presence of provincial government cannot be felt at all the districts. – Dormani Poudel, Chief Minister of Province 3

Though province’s law & order comes under state government’s jurisdiction, we’ve not been able to form the provincial police  – Lal Babu Raut, Chief Minister of Province 2

“It’s a serious issue. What shall we do if the central government refused to accept when we begin the process after seeking foreign investment?  – Shankar Pokhrel, Chief Minister of Province 5

Let’s see what the Center says now!

The post Federal Nepal: Provinces Unhappy with Centre’s Stance on Local Bodies appeared first on Nepali Sansar.

Under the national budget for FY 2018-19, the government has allocated nearly Rs 400 billion budget to 760 governments including 753 local units and seven provincial governments, with Rs 113.43 billion for provincial bodies and Rs 308.48 billion for local bodies.

All the seven provinces of Nepal presented their budgets for FY 2018-19 on June 15, 2018:

Province 1: With a budgetary allocation of Rs 35.936 billion, the Province 1 government prioritized development in agriculture, tourism and infrastructure development, among other areas. Province 1 allotted high budget for infrastructure sector at Rs 9.50 billion, followed by Rs 2.74 billion for forest, environment, sanitation & drinking water, and Rs 1.3 billion for industrial development.

Province 2:  Province 2 made a budgetary allocation of Rs 29.7838 billion. Out of the total budget, it allotted Rs 1 billion in conditional grants to local bodies, Rs 1.44 billion in grants for farmers, nearly Rs 300 million for the upgradation of Sagarmatha Zonal Hospital, Narayani Sub-regional Hospital and Janakpur Zonal Hospital, and Rs 10 million for the upgradation of Saptari’s Rupani Police Hospital into a Trauma center.

Province 3: With a budget of Rs 35.61 billion for FY 2018-19, the Province 3 Government managed to allot Rs 1 billion for distribution among 119 local levels and Rs 3.63 billion for various other projects across the local levels.

Province 4: With a total budget of Rs 24 billion for FY 2018-19, the Province 4 Government is aiming to achieve 8 percent rise in provincial income annually, and at 2500 US dollar per capita income. Construction of fast tracks from Korala to Pokhara and from Pokhara to Dumkibas are among other key projects.

Province 5: The Province 5 Government presented a Rs 28.9 billion budget with Rs 11.46 billion as administrative expenditure and Rs 16.62 billion as capital expenditure.

Province 6: Out of total budget of Rs 28.282 billion, the Province 6 Government has set aside Rs 400 million for financial management, Rs 1.20 billion for People’s Road Programme across seven constituencies, Rs 1.28 billion rupees for road connectivity among districts and connection with other provinces, and Rs 20 billion for various projects to be developed under Center’s assistance, private sector and donor agencies.

Province 7: Out of the total allocation of Rs 25.6 billion, the Province 7 Government allotted Rs 5 billion for infrastructure development, Rs 20 crore and Rs 10 crore separately for provincial bus operation and Hydro Power Development Board establishment, respectively, and additional budget for development across key sectors such as self-employment, tourism, agriculture, construction, security and social development.

Now, let’s take a look at the budgetary allocations across local bodies:

Kathmandu Metropolitan City
While majority of the 753 local governments have already announced their budgets, the Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC) recently made it public its budget for the fiscal on June 25, 2018, touching a Rs 13.02 billion mark.

Presenting the budget, KMC Deputy Mayor Hariprabha Khadgi announced Rs 13.02 billion for the municipal assembly and Rs 3.06 billion for infrastructure development across wards.

Out of various other minor projects, the feasibility study and detailed project report for the development of monorail, electric bus, e-toilet and Sky Bridge received major push in the allocation.

Bharatpur Metropolitan City
Meanwhile, Bharatpur Metropolitan City (BMC) made a budgetary allocation of Rs.  3.34 billion for development across its internal regions.

With an 81-point list of special programs, BMC Mayor Renu Dahal allotted Rs 1.62 billion as capital expenditure and Rs 1.7 billion as recurrent expenditure.

With key areas on developmental priority, BMC is looking at Rs 556 million revenue collection in FY 2018-19.

As part of the developmental agenda, the metropolis declared Metropolis Ring Road and link road as ‘Metropolitan City Pride Project’, which is going to be initiated very soon.

An international-standard cricket stadium, sky bridges in three main areas of the metropolis and an entertainment park at Narayani River bank are among other development, says Dahal.

Birgunj Metropolitan City
With an internal revenue collection target of Rs 595 million, Birgunj Metropolitan presented a budget of Rs 4.94 billion for FY 2018-19.

The Metropolis has allotted Rs 2.61 billion of the total budget to the projects assisted by the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

In the next fiscal, Birgunj is also planning a special program called ‘Prosperity of Birgunj’ for overall development and another initiative called ‘Local Tax for Local Development’ for raising tax revenues.

Pokhara Lekhnath Metropolitan City
With a total budgetary allocation of Rs 6.53 billion, the Pokara Leknath Metropolitan has various local plans as part of its developmental agenda.

Some of the key projects on priority include: Preservation of Phewa and Begnas Lake, development of Phewa Lake Drainage Division, a feasibility study of Phewa-Begnas Monorail, development of seven local locations as modern agriculture pocket areas, laying of underground power cables,  construction of a tourist bus park, metro buildings, 30 connecting roads and Phirke corridor ring road.

For all these projects, the Metropolitan will raise Rs 4.33 billion revenue from external sources and Rs1.69 billion from internal sources, says Mayor Man Bahadur GC.

Biratnagar Metropolitan City
Under a budget of Rs 4.47 billion, the Biratnagar Metropolitan has allotted Rs 336.8 million for recurrent expenditure and Rs 3.25 billion for physical infrastructure, followed by Rs 200 million for social security allowance, says the Deputy Mayor Indira Karki.

Lalitpur Metropolitan City
Though the budget was not presented to the municipal assembly, the Lalitpur Metropolitan is looking at a budgetary allocation of Rs 4.7 billion for FY 2018-19, informed the Metropolis Executive Officer Hari Prasad Dahal.

In Total
In line with the Federal Budget, the local and provincial governments also gave top priority to infrastructure development across various sectors.

Besides the allotted Rs 400 billion budget, an additional Rs 20 billion has also been added as complementary and special grants to both the governments.

The post Nepal Budget FY 2018-19: Highlights of Provinces and Local Governments appeared first on Nepali Sansar.

“Local bodies will have to own SDGs,” noted NPC in its report titled ‘National Report on the Implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development’ released on August 02, 2017. It said a strong partnership between three tiers of government — federal, provincial and local — is extremely necessary to integrate SDGs into local-level structures.”

NPC also urged the Central government to provide sufficient funds at grass-root levels, thus enabling them to come up with various developmental programmes that meet UN-backed goals.

The Commission also pitched on the need for workshop and training sessions stating, “Consultation, workshops and trainings will be required to ensure that SDGs are incorporated in provincial and local plans. It is also equally important to ensure effective participation of women, youth and other marginalized groups in planning and implementation of SDGs at local level.”

SDGs, a follow-up on Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) that expired at the end of 2015, include 17 goals and 169 targets that cover a broad range of issues regarding sustainable development in Nepal. These UN-formed goals will have to be met by 2030.

Ending poverty & hunger, sustainable industrialization, inclusive & sustainable economic growth, employment and overall welfare of the public form major elements of SDGs.

Fund Crunch, a Major Challenge

According to the World Bank Council, implementation of SDGs will require at least USD 1.5 trillion a year at the global level.

It is still uncertain on how much the Nepali Government will have to invest on SDGs of Nepal, however, the government’s own financial resources were found insufficient.

“Therefore, Nepal is trying to manage financial resources from a triangular partnership, which includes the public and private sectors as well as development partners, as meeting SDGs is a shared responsibility of the national and international communities,” says the NPC report.

The post Local Bodies Vital to Meet SDGs, Says Nepal Planning Commission appeared first on Nepali Sansar.