Finance Committee asks govt to give priority to local units in budget

Kathmandu, May 26:

The Finance Committee of the Legislature-Parliament has recommended the government to allocate maximum budget to the local units, and develop a budget mobilisation and expenditure management system to guide them.

A meeting of the House panel Thursday afternoon decided to suggest to the government, including the Ministry of Finance and the National Planning Commission (NPC), to provide the maximum budget to the local units as they were the bases of income.

“The government should give continuity to the programmes like ‘Lets Build Our Village Ourselves’. It also demanded that the budget distribution be inclusive,” read a statement issued by the Committee chairman Prakash Jwala.

The committee recommended utilising the old structure of the local unit as much as possible and creating new structures as soon as possible.

Projects like the Himali Highway connecting Taplejung in the east to Darchula in the west, Himali city, boarding schools in the remote areas, and integrated settlements in the Mountain, Hill and Terai regions are also included in the suggestion.

Similarly, the House panel has demanded allocating sufficient budget to national pride projects like the Kathmandu-Terai Fast Track, Budhigandaki Hydropower Project, Postal Highway and Mid-Hill Highway, and focus on budget implementation.

It has suggested giving priority to energy and tourism sector development.

“The government should stress on increasing energy production. Apart from the Budhigandaki, budget should also be allocated to the Indrawati Multipurpose Reservoir Project, and the concept of Remit Hydro should be addressed in the upcoming budget,” Jwala said.

Likewise, the planning body has recommended developing programmes to promote domestic tourism, and build infrastructure at Pashupati, Lumbini, Muktinath, Pathibhara, Halesi, Gosainkunda, Swargadwari, Chhinnamasta, Khairabang and other prominent religious destinations in order to promote religious tourism.

Agriculture is another area that it said needed to be considered.

“Launch programmes to replace import of agricultural products, develop cold storage in every local unit, establish agro-processing industries, and give priority to modernisation and mechanisation of agricultural sector.”

The committee has also advised the government to enhance financial access in the local units that have been out of financial inclusion so far, simplify grant distribution process to facilitate quake-affected families, and provide land to the landless to build houses under the ‘Janata Awas’ programme.