Karnali Government's Development Budget Implementation Weakest in Four Years

Surkhet. It has been about 3 months since Mangal Bahadur Shahi took the leadership of the Karnali government. Karnali got a new government a few days after the start of the new financial year. However, the new government has not been able to do effective work in the development construction of Karnali. By the end of the first quarter review of the current financial year (2083/084), the Karnali government has implemented only 2.31 percent of the total development budget, which is the weakest and most disappointing compared to the last 3 financial years. The previous government was accused of not being able to spend the development budget provided by the center and not providing good governance. The current Chief Minister Shahi was the leader of the main opposition party at that time. 'If the government led by Yamlal Kandel remains in power, Karnali's development pace will be affected. The government could not even spend the development budget,' Shahi used to accuse at that time as the leader of the main opposition party. While in opposition, he led a no-confidence motion in the parliament with the then ruling Nepali Congress to remove Kandel from power. As expected, Kandel was forced to resign. However, even after Shahi became the Chief Minister, the pace of development budget implementation of the provincial government has not improved, but has instead declined. Shahi was appointed Chief Minister on Shrawan 12. The decline in the quarterly results of his government further strengthens the argument that the change of government was not for development but only for gaining power, says political analyst Pitambar Dhakal. 'There was a delay in the formation process of this government. Even after the government was fully formed, it does not seem to be working properly,' he said, 'After the formation of a new government, there is some new hope, but that is not visible.' The provincial government has allocated an annual development budget of 20 billion 74 crore 67 lakh 12 thousand for the current financial year. According to Lalit Thapa, accounting officer of the Provincial Treasury Comptroller's Office, only 81 crore 59 lakh 29 thousand 78 rupees were implemented by the end of Ashwin (first quarter), while the progress in the previous 3 financial years was much higher. Comparison of development budget and implementation for 4 financial years: Increasing size, decreasing implementation pace: According to the table mentioned, the size of the development budget in Karnali is increasing. In the financial year 2081/082, the annual development budget was 18 billion 75 crore. Last year, this budget increased to 19 billion 98 crore, and now it has been increased to 20 billion 74 crore. However, the implementation status has decreased from 4 percent to 2.31 percent. Government could not pick up the pace, big ministries are deserted: The infrastructure projects included in the current financial year's budget have been arranged to start the procurement process after Ashad 1 within the limit of the approved budget. Although such an arrangement has been made for effective implementation of the budget, due to the government being preoccupied with changes in government at the time when attention should have been paid to the implementation of the current budget, most of the projects have not entered the implementation phase. The government formed in the second week of Shrawan was fully formed only in the second week of Bhadra. Until then, the Chief Minister himself held various ministries, which directly affected budget implementation, according to officials of the Ministry of Finance. Most of the projects with large budgets that should have been implemented according to the tender process in the current financial year have not even started the process, due to which the budget of big development ministries has not become dynamic. For example, the development budget implementation of the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Urban Development, which has the largest budget, is only 60 crore in 3 months. Whereas this ministry has an annual development budget of 10.5 billion. Ministry-wise development budget and quarterly expenditure: 'There are many problems regarding budget implementation' Government spokesperson Kalyani Khadka says that there are many legal and procedural complexities regarding budget implementation. 'It is not as it appears and sounds from the outside,' she told Ratoppati, 'However, we are working with an effort to bring some improvement compared to the past.' Last year, only 61.97 percent of the total budget, i.e., 20 billion 57 crore 12 lakh, was implemented, and 12 billion 62 crore 24 lakh 46 thousand budget was frozen. The provincial government has brought a total budget of 35 billion 39 crore 85 lakh 48 thousand for the current financial year. In the first quarter, i.e., 3 months, 2 billion 54 crore 86 lakh 34 thousand 385 rupees have been implemented. The government's target is to implement 70-80 percent of the budget by the end of Ashad. However, it has not been able to work according to the target so far. Nevertheless, the current expenditure for salary and allowances has exceeded 1 billion 73 crore. It has become a tendency in Karnali for current expenditure to increase every year while the implementation of the development budget remains weak. 'Work is being done to bring all projects into implementation' Spokesperson Khadka, who is also the Minister of Industry, Tourism, Forest and Environment, says that all ministers are seriously engaged in effective budget implementation. 'I myself have visited various districts to understand the situation of my ministry. Discussions were held on how to tender multi-year projects as soon as possible and how to move forward with sick projects in those districts,' she said. She stated that written commitments have been made to complete the work within the stipulated time after discussing with the contractors of multi-year projects in 6 districts. Similarly, she said that local governments and district-level offices are filling out the schedules for ongoing projects. 'The schedule form will be filled by the end of Mangsir. After that, a meeting chaired by the senior provincial assembly member of the respective district will be held to certify the projects and bring them into implementation,' she added. According to her, many projects under the Ministry of Social Development and the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure have already gone into implementation and tender process. She said that the contract process for work through consumer committees has progressed and tenders for other projects are being called. Regarding sick projects that require an extension of deadline and blacklisting in the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure, Minister of Physical Infrastructure Milan Khadka Roka is studying them. 'Work is being done to bring all projects into implementation by the end of Kartik,' Roka said. 'Budget implementation will not be easy until legal obstacles are removed' Spokesperson Khadka says that there is a big difference between being outside the government and being in the government now. She said, 'My understanding was different when I was outside. Looking at it now, there are many legal hurdles.' She said that coordination is being done with the federal government to resolve the complexities in the laws related to shared and exclusive authority lists. She stated that budget implementation will not be easy until the legal obstacles are removed. In her understanding, the most laws have been made in the forest sector, where federal and provincial laws conflict. She claims that the reason for the current non-performing assets and legal complexities in Karnali is that the legal aspects were not considered when allocating the budget. 'If the legal obstacles can be removed in time, a much higher percentage of the budget can be spent than in the past,' she said.