The trend of allocating large sums of money in the annual budget but not being able to spend it is not only seen in the federal government but also in the provinces and the six metropolitan cities of the country. This is confirmed by the fact that these municipalities spent very little of the allocated budget in the first six months of the current fiscal year.

In the first six months of the current fiscal year, the federal government has spent only 12.12 percent of the allocated budget on capital expenditure. The six metropolitan cities of Kathmandu, Lalitpur, Pokhara, Bharatpur, Birgunj and Biratnagar have also followed the same trend. In the last six months, the average capital expenditure of these metropolitan cities is 16.92 percent. This shows that the metropolitan cities are also weak in terms of government financial management and capital expenditure.

Experts say that capital expenditure has not been made on time because of the trend of not spending much until half of the fiscal year but spending arbitrarily in the last months. Experts say that along with the tendency to spend at the end of the fiscal year, there has been a fear of where the country will go this year due to the Gen-G protests. They say that the interim government has not been able to focus on work due to the debate over what will happen to the structures of the provinces and municipalities after the Gen-G protests.

Biratnagar Metropolitan City has been seen as the weakest in development spending, while Birgunj Metropolitan City has spent the most. In the first six months of the current fiscal year, Biratnagar has spent only 7.85 percent on capital (development). Data shows that Birgunj has spent 33.14 percent on development during the same period. The physical structure of the Birgunj Metropolitan City Office has been destroyed after the office was set on fire during the Gen-G movement. The administrative building has been destroyed, and the metropolis has not been able to spend a large part of the allocated budget. The metropolis has stated that only 326.5 million rupees have been spent on capital out of the 985 million rupees allocated. The metropolis has spent only 33 percent on capital.

According to data received from the Birgunj Metropolitan City Office, the total budget of the metropolis for the current year is 3.35 billion 8.1 billion rupees, but only 1.20 billion 3.4 billion rupees have been spent by mid-Poush. This is only 35 percent in percentage terms. The metropolis has demolished the main building and started constructing a new building in its place. The metropolis has allocated Rs 2.33 billion for the current year, of which only Rs 858.8 million has been spent. Only 37 percent of the current budget has been spent. 

Press advisor to the metropolis chief Rajeshman Singh, Nawaraj Phuyal, claims that 35 percent of the budget has been spent in the first six months of the current fiscal year. ‘The budget will be spent gradually in the coming days,’ he said. ‘The budget expenditure will also increase as tenders are opened, project agreements are signed, payments are made, etc. will intensify in the remaining six months.’

The plan to build a park on the land purchased from the then Transport Corporation in the heart of the metropolis has been moved forward. About a month ago, the metropolis removed the market place set up in the park. As an alternative to the market place, a market place has been allowed to be set up on the land of Lal Bangla located to the north of the park. In addition, retail and wholesale vegetable markets have also been established and operated in Maidiya Pokhari and Chhapakaiya in Nagwa. 

After Birgunj, Lalitpur Metropolitan City is the one that spends the most on development. Lalitpur has spent 16 percent on development. Lalitpur Mayor Chiribabu Maharjan said that the Gen-G movement has created instability for some time, so there has been no spending.

‘Although some work is being done, payments have not been made, this is just financial progress that has been made,’ he said, ‘There are still some that are yet to be paid, and it will increase later,’ he said. Lalitpur had allocated Rs 4.5 billion 7.7 billion for capital expenditure. Out of that, Rs 720 million 14 million has been spent. 

Kathmandu Metropolitan City is also similar in terms of capital expenditure. Kathmandu Metropolitan City has spent only 15.81 percent of its capital expenditure in the first six months of the current fiscal year. Although the policy, program and budget for the new fiscal year should have been brought by 10 Ashar as per the constitutional provisions, Kathmandu brought the budget for the current fiscal year 19 days late for the first time due to a dispute between the metropolis’s outgoing Mayor Balendra Shah and Chief Administrative Officer Saroj Guragain. 

Kathmandu had allocated a development budget of Rs 15.5 billion 17 million while bringing in a total budget of Rs 25.76 billion 43.41 million. But the metropolis has so far spent only Rs 2.45 billion 17 million of the development budget. Even though the work is done, the expenditure is not visible because the bill has not been brought, said Naveen Manandhar, spokesperson of the metropolis. ‘The trend of expenditure till Pus is like this, a little work is done before Pus but the bill has not come and the expenditure is not visible,’ he said, ‘The bill comes after Chait-Baisakh and the expenditure is visible.’

He said that since it takes 8/9 months to complete any work, the budget comes in Ashar and the contract is awarded after Dashain-Tihar, the expenditure appears low. Kathmandu Metropolitan City has spent only 15.81 percent of the budget in 6 months.

Out of the total Rs 5.19 billion 67.16 million of the current fiscal year of Bharatpur Metropolitan City, a total of 24.33 percent has been spent till the end of Pus. Out of the total budget of Rs 2.61 billion 2.368 billion 881, Rs 865 million 56 paisa, or 32.94 percent, has been spent.

Out of Rs 2.58 billion 4.3 million in capital expenditure, Rs 403.1 million has been spent, informed the Information Officer of the metropolis, Menaka Pandit. Till mid-December, 15.60 percent of the capital budget has been spent. The metropolis has stated that a total of Rs 1.26 billion 3.7 million has been spent, including current and capital expenditure. 

The mayors of Bharatpur and Kathmandu have resigned before the end of their terms for the upcoming House of Representatives elections. Outgoing Kathmandu Mayor Balendra Shah resigned last Sunday and Bharatpur Mayor Renu Dahal resigned on Tuesday and registered their candidacies on Tuesday. They resigned before the end of their five-year term. With both of them resigning, the post of mayor is vacant. 

After the House of Representatives elections on 21 Falgun, the Election Commission will have to hold interim elections for the vacant posts at the local level. Constitutional expert Khimlal Devkota says that additional expenses will be incurred as by-elections will have to be held after Shah and Dahal, who were elected by the general public, resigned before their terms ended. “After the resignation of the municipal representatives for 21 Falgun, by-elections will have to be held again, and the election will be held with the money raised from the taxes paid by the people,” he said. “The Congress had set a standard not to recommend incumbents as candidates. Wouldn’t others have done the same?”

Pokhara Metropolitan City has spent only 20.09 percent of its total budget in the first six months. Out of the budget allocated to Pokhara of Rs 8.35 billion, 1.2 billion, only Rs 1.67 billion has been spent so far in the first six months. The budget expenditure on capital expenditure in particular has been very disappointing. 

Out of the capital budget allocated to Rs 4.83 billion, 8.27 billion, only Rs 427 billion has been spent in the first six months, which is a spending rate of only 8.69 percent. The current budget expenditure has been relatively good.

Out of the current budget of Rs 3,510,923,097, Rs 1,250,746,5814 has been spent, which is 35.79 percent. The metropolis also seems to be facing challenges in revenue mobilization. Including grants, Rs 2,533,666,041 has been collected as revenue, which is 30.34 percent of the total target.

The situation is even more worrying in terms of internal revenue. Out of the target of Rs 3,237,220,855, only Rs 345,974,482 has been generated as internal revenue in the first six months, which is only 11.03 percent. The fact that the capital budget expenditure has not reached 10 percent even after half of the fiscal year has passed indicates a serious problem in the implementation of plans and projects.

Experts say that such a low expenditure rate is the result of delays in development projects, administrative complexity and weaknesses in planning. If this trend continues, there is a risk of rushing into budget spending towards the end of the fiscal year and cost-oriented work instead of quality work. 

Even after half of the current fiscal year, Biratnagar Metropolitan City has not been able to spend even 10 percent of the total allocated budget. Out of the budget of Rs 1.61 billion, only Rs 12.42 million has been spent so far, which is about 7.6 percent of the total budget. The budget expenditure has been found to be low as most development projects within the metropolis have not progressed.

According to the planning department, most of the plans are limited to paper, while the contract process for some plans has only recently begun. Expenditure on major projects directly related to citizens such as roads, sewage, lighting, greenery and urban beautification is zero or very low.

Metropolitan sources say that the expenditure so far has been mainly limited to administrative operations, essential maintenance and some small infrastructure projects. The projects that have incurred the most expenditure this year are also regular and small in nature. Large infrastructure projects of multi-year and long-term importance are stuck in the initial stages. 

While studying the budget booklet of the metropolis, it has been observed that there has been zero progress this year in some of the schemes for which budget has been continuously allocated since previous years. Although schemes such as Prime Minister Park, canal road blacktop, etc. have been included in the current year's budget, the contracting process has not progressed so far. The trend of allocating budget every year but not working on it has exposed a serious imbalance between budget allocation and implementation.

Due to the delay in implementing the scheme, the metropolis has brought forward the arson that took place during the Gen-G movement. Arjun Thapa, head of the planning department, said that the contracting process was affected for a long time when the documents were burnt during the movement. 'After that, many schemes could not move forward, now tenders have been called for contracts for 25-30 schemes at once,' he said.