Local levels unveil budget KMC presents largest budget of Rs. 25.41 billion

 Kathmandu, June 24

As required by the Intergovernmental Fiscal Arrangement Act, 2017 and the Local Government Operation Act, 2017, five metropolis, 11 sub-metropolitan cities,   many municipalities and rural municipalities presented their budgets for the next fiscal year 2022/23 on Friday.

Of the six metropolitan cities in the country, five tabled their budget for the coming fiscal.

Among the metropolis, Pokhara, capital city of Gandaki province, couldn't table the budget while 28/28 municipalities and rural municipalities also failed to present the budget on the date set by the law (Asar 10) on Friday.

The Municipalities Association Nepal and National Association of Rural Municipalities confirmed the inability of 56 local governments to present the budget for the next fiscal.

The local governments have announced their budgets with a focus on a wide range of issues including physical infrastructure, waste management and good governance.

The largest city of the nation and the federal capital Kathmandu Metropolitan City presented a budget of Rs. 25.41 billion.

While making the budget public, Deputy Mayor of the KMC Sunita Dangol said that the majority of budget has been allocated for infrastructure development sector. A budget of Rs. 11.08 billion, (49.57 per cent), has been allocated for the infrastructure development.

Similarly, Rs. 4.46 billion, 19.96 per cent of the total budget, has been allocated for good governance and inter-related sector. For social sector, the KMC has earmarked Rs. 1.6 billion, 7.25 per cent, of the budget.

 Next door, Lalitpur Metropolitan City tabled a budget of Rs. 6.35 billion on Friday. Mayor of the metropolis Chiribabu Maharjan presented the budget that is Rs. 1.18 billion larger than the current year's estimate.

One of the highlights of the budget is that it has made it mandatory to arrange 10 per cent of the costs of construction projects implemented through consumer committees through public participation. However, this does not apply to constructions inside the World Heritage Sites.

The metro has also decided to operate a call centre to listen to public grievances, operate eight city buses, construct 25 parks and 34 smart toilets, and develop dedicated bicycle lanes. Lalitpur Metropolis also announced to establish 'Dr. Satya Mohan Joshi Academy'.

 Likewise, Birgunj Metropolitan City has announced a budget of Rs. 3.33 billion for 2022/23. The metropolis has allocated Rs. 2.69 billion for current expenditure and Rs. 1.26 billion for capital expenditure.

Deputy Mayor of Birgunj Imtiyaz Alam had presented the budget with a target to collect Rs. 950 million from its internal sources. Likewise, the city expects to receive Rs. 1.70 billion from the federal government in grants and revenue sharing. It is estimated that Rs. 79.7 million will be received from the state government as well.

Similarly, the RUDP project run by the Asian Development Bank is estimated to receive Rs. 126.1 million and Rs. 20 million from the Roads Board.

 Meanwhile, Bharatpur Metropolitan City has unveiled a budget of Rs. 5.74 billion for 2022/23.

Deputy Mayor of the Metropolis Chitrasen Adhikari informed that domestic sources will facilitate Rs. 1.50 billion while Rs. 1.92 billion will be received through inter-governmental fiscal handover, and Rs. 533 million from revenue sharing, and the remaining amount through provincial and federal government alongside donor agencies.

Bharatpur Metropolis has allocated Rs. 1.3 billion for the ongoing projects, and R. 725 million for wards' programmes with Rs. 25 million for each ward. It has earmarked Rs. 280 million for urban infrastructure like sewerage, public toilets, overhead bridge and project bank. Rs. 155 million is separated for agriculture and livestock development.

 Likewise, Biratnagar Metropolitan City has presented a budget of Rs. 3.62 billion for the coming Fiscal Year 2022/23. Deputy Mayor Shilla Nirala Karki presented the budget, which is less by Rs. 1 billion compared to the budget of the current fiscal year – Rs. 4.63 billion.

The size of the budget for the next year has been reduced on the basis of the real income of the local body which is the capital of the Province 1.

It is estimated in the budget that the metropolis will earn Rs. 2.32 billion from various sources including Rs. 456 million from the federal government in fiscal transfers, Rs. 211 million from the provincial government, Rs. 211 million from revenue sharing, Rs. 888 million from housing and land registration and Rs. 399 million from vehicle tax. It also expects to receive Rs. 721 million in conditional grants from the federal government, Rs. 1 billion in internal revenue, Rs. 15 million from the Roads Board, and Rs. 101 million from Municipal Development Fund in loans.

Biratnagar Metropolis' recurrent expenditure is Rs. 613.5 million. It has allocated Rs. 1.7 billion for infrastructure development, Rs. 472 million for supplementary programmes, Rs. 138 million for economic development in the areas of cooperatives, protection of consumer interest, tourism promotion, entrepreneurship development, livestock and veterinary and agricultural development, and Rs. 15.9 million for social development.

Similarly, Rs. 35.5 million has been allocated for forest environment and disaster management and Rs. 43.5 million for good governance and institutional development. The total cost of supplementary special conditional loan and association program is estimated at Rs. 1.26 billion.

 (With inputs from our correspondents Nawaraj Kattel/Rangeli, Shaligram Nepal/Bharatpur, Dipak Gautam/Birgunj)

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 25 June 2022.