Reconstruction, local body election in government priority
KATHMANDU, July 1: The government unveiled principles and priorities of the upcoming budget in the parliament on Wednesday, putting emphasis on timely reconstruction, increasing productivity of agricultural, industrial and service sectors affected by the quake, disaster preparedness and management, and election for local bodies, among others.
Minister for Finance Ram Sharan Mahat presented principles and priorities of the upcoming budget for discussion in the parliament on Wednesday. He said reconstruction of quake-damaged houses, public buildings, villages, and cultural and historical monuments will be carried out with high priority.
The government has already revised budget ceiling for 2015/16, adding Rs 106 billion for reconstruction works which will be handled by the to-be-formed reconstruction authority.
In the document tabled in the parliament on the day, the government has said it will mobilize resources to purchase required machinery equipment for disaster management as well as increase capacity of manpower for the purpose. Similarly, plans to provide assistance to homeless people for rebuilding their homes and enhancing their livelihood are also in the government's priority.
The government has prioritized local body election and said that it intends to make local bodies capable enough of implementing small projects. Similarly, it plans to conduct review of central-level priority projects and drop unnecessary as well as unproductive projects.
Local body election came into government's priority after it felt the absence of local authority while conducting rescue and relief operation after the after the earthquake of April 25 and aftershocks thereafter, according to the Principles and Priorities of Appropriation Bill 2072.
To address low spending of developmental budget, the government has said it will add a chapter on 'capacity enhancement of government employees on higher spending capacity' in the curriculum of training to be provided by staff training institutes.
The government has cited dispersed budgetary allocation in local and petty projects as well as low spending as its challenges.
According to Principles and Priorities of Appropriation Bill 2072, the government plans to run short-term technical skill development program to prepare workforce for reconstruction works. Similarly, the government has said that it will mobilize domestic resources like 'reconstruction debenture' to collect fund for reconstruction.
The document, however, speaks very little about economic reforms, particularly on legal front, started last year with high priority. The government had unveiled plan to reform over three dozen laws in the last fiscal year. However, it could only make amendment to Public Procurement Act. Though many amendment bills have been registered in the parliament, discussions on them have yet to begin. The government has said they will be approved by the budget session of the parliament which began on Tuesday.
The principles and priorities of the government for upcoming budget and programs is a part of pre-budget discussion.
Source: myRepublica
