Experts call for new economic approach for federal Nepal

Kathmandu, Mar. 13:

Former minister of tourism and Member of Parliament of Karnali Province Jiban Bahadur Shahi has said that allocating budget on the basis of population size was not a good strategy as his state needed more resources to fight poverty and develop infrastructure.

Karnali is the largest province with the lowest population in comparison to the other six states.

"Allocating budget on the basis of population is not a good idea, especially in terms of a region like Karnali as there is a dire need of infrastructure development as well as poverty reduction programmes, which demand huge amounts of money," he said while speaking at the launch of the World Bank's Systematic Country Diagnostic (SCD) of Nepal.

This year, the government has considered three dimensions - cost of development, need of development and population size – while allocating the budget to the local bodies.

Karnali Province has two districts, Humla and Dolpa, which are still not connected with the rest of the country by road network.

Similarly, the Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI), recently launched by the National Planning Commission (NPC), has concluded that Karnali and Province 2 have the highest rate of MPI with every second person being multi-dimensionally poor (50 per cent) while the national MPI average is 28.6 per cent.

He demanded that the federal government develop a new action-oriented approach for the development of the rural and remote areas.

Chief of the International Economic Cooperation Coordination Division at the Ministry of Finance Kewal Prasad Bhandari said that the government was closely working with the various stakeholders, including the development partners, in developing new development approaches.

He said that it was time to assess the socio-economic and demographic cost of migration and formulate policies to address the challenges and strategic gaps.

Former vice-chairman of the NPC Dr. Min Bahadur Shrestha suggested dividing the river sections and leasing them out to the private sector for fishing, sports and recreational activities.

He expressed hope that as the private sector was working enthusiastically, there was a possibility of generating about 3,000 megawatts of electricity in three years.

President of the SAARC Chamber of Commerce and Industry Suraj Vaidya said that the government should understand that the private sector was not there for social welfare but to make a profit. Therefore the former should create an environment to attract national and international investment.

"We are not making easy way for foreign investors. They look into economic opportunities and go there where the cost of doing business is low," he said.

However, the former president of the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) also mentioned that the future looked good as a stable political system was in place.

He said that the government should not only go after businesses for revenue growth to manage funds for development works, but should also maintain greater transparency.

Former secretary of the government Tulasi Prasad Sitaula urged the World Bank to focus on infrastructure while preparing the country partnership strategy for Neapl.

Chairperson of Centre for Investigative Journalism (CIJ) Namrata Sharma said that the mitigation of corruption should be the priority of the government.