PM tells NPC to help provincial planning bodies formulate plans

NDAC meeting

Kathmandu, Jan. 16:

Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli has directed the provincial governments to strongly pursue the development objectives with continuous communication and cooperation with the federal as well as the local governments.

He directed the National Planning Commission (NPC) to create strong bonds with the newly formed provincial planning commissions to guide them in formulating periodic planning.

“Communication, coordination and cooperation are the three elements that the governments of various levels and planning commissions should focus on,” he said while addressing the National Development Action Committee (NDAC) meeting at the NPC on Wednesday.

“A tiger is strong and fierce, but a cub cannot hunt on its own. First it needs to learn to stand properly then gradually should acquire the hunting skills. The provinces and the local governments are in the same position, you should create strong foothold first then learn the skills of development and programme execution,” said the PM.

He directed the federal ministries and provincial governments not to create problems but to resolve the issues with greater cooperation and collaborations as it was not a victory or a defeat of any one party or individual but a mission to develop the nation.

According to PM Oli, problems in the coordination among the sub-national governments will obstruct the pace the development. The government has developed and implemented ‘Federalism Implement Facilitation Action Plan’.

If implemented in true spirit, it will help to forge better collaborations among the governments, he said.

He warned the federal and provincial ministers that they did not have the luxury to simply pass their ministerial tenure but to work hard to lead the nation on the path of development and prosperity.

“Do not play with the numbers but work so as to change those numbers,” he directed.

The Prime Minister said that the modernisation and mechanisation of agriculture, development and promotion of small and medium scale enterprises and development of tourism were the bases of the economic progress.

PM Oli said that the stable government had created a policy of stability and clarity in the national policy which would play an important role in attracting investment.

He also suggested the federal and provincial governments should work together to create project banks.

He directed the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport and Ministry of Home Affairs not to trouble the motorcycle riders and pillion riders but to start homework to create policy to address the issue.

He also directed the responsible government agencies to clarify about the confusion created over the new liquor policy.

“There has been no action from the government side but there is confusion in the market. The government agencies must be aware not to create havoc in the market,” he said.

NPC Vice-Chairman Prof. Dr. Pushpa Raj Kandel said that the provincial governments should coordinate with the local levels for the development works and capacity building.

He said that the Project Information Management System was in the phase of completion and would soon be implemented.

Finance Minister Dr. Yuba Raj Khatiwada said that the progress in the national pride projects was not satisfactory and urged the line ministries to find the causes behind the delay in the strategic infrastructure projects.

He said that the culture of making payment against the programme implementation at the end of the fiscal year should be changed and the payments should be made periodically.

“The government should create a mechanism to monitor the investment of the private sector as well. The private sector invests more than the government and it should be in the knowledge of the government,” he said.

Chief Minister of Province 5 Shankar Pokharel said that in absence of strong cooperation among the three levels of governments, there was a problem of programme duplication.

Chief Ministers of Province 1 and 2 Sherdhan Rai and Lal Babu Raut respectively said that there was poor coordination among the governments.

Minister for Labour, Employment and Social Security Gokarna Bista pointed towards the need for implementing more infrastructure projects and expedite the works at the projects being implemented in order to create more jobs.

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 17 January 2019.