The practice of MPs visiting ministries demanding allocation of funds even for small projects on the eve of budget preparation has continued this year as well. MPs are submitting a list of projects in their respective areas to the ministry demanding budget allocation. They are also asking the federal government for budget for even small projects that should be implemented by the provincial and local governments. 

 The largest number of MPs demanding plans has started visiting the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport. According to the ministry, budget has been demanded for 686 projects so far. Many of them are for road and bridge construction. An official from the ministry informed that MPs are demanding budget even for small projects that the National Planning Commission has said should be under the local level. According to him, projects worth lakhs have been submitted mostly from Kailali and Rautahat. 

A budget of Rs 50 lakh has been requested for the construction of a concrete slope bridge including a culvert from Chandeshwor Das' house in Durga Bhagwati Rural Municipality of Rautahat-1 in Ganga Pipara. In the same rural municipality, Rs 35 lakh has been requested for the road slope from Srup Pandit's house to the pond, and Rs 2 million for the road upgrade from Boudhimai Temple to Brahrasthan.

In Durga Bhagwati rural municipality, Rs 45 lakh has been requested for the road upgrade from Dharmendra Kumar Jha's house to Mahalal Mahato's house, and Rs 40 lakh for the road slope including the wall from Vijay Singh's house to Thakurji temple. In the same rural municipality, Rs 60 lakh has been requested for the road upgrade from Vakil Jha's house to Pachrukhi, and Rs 8 million for the construction of a paved slope from Bhikhari Pandit Kumar's house to Bharat Das' house.

Rajesh Chaudhary, an elected Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) MP from Rautahat-1, has submitted an application to the ministry for these projects in Durga Bhagwati rural municipality. MP Chaudhary said that he has requested the budget from the federal government after the state and local levels did not work. 'The bridge construction is stalled. There are other problems as well. But the state does not care. We are directly connected to the people here. That is why budget has been demanded for the most urgent project. I have also asked for a plan to build a dam on the river. The government will decide how much budget to provide.' 

In Kailali, 2 million rupees have been demanded for blacktopping from Bhujju's house to East Ramani Mahadevali School along the Bainiya Bhajani Road. Komal Gyawali, an elected MP from the RSVP in Kailali-1, has demanded this plan. Two additional projects of 50-50 million rupees have been demanded in this area. The highest number of 27 projects in the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport has been submitted by Devraj Pathak, an MP from Dang-1.

Ramesh Kumar Malla of the NCP has submitted a list of 25 projects for Salyan, Aren Rai of the Shram Sanskriti Party has submitted 22 for Khotang, and Bikram Khanal of the RSVP has submitted a list of 20 projects for West Nawalparasi-1. NCP coordinator and MP Pushpa Kamal Dahal has requested budget for 19 projects for Rukum East. The budget requesters include MPs from the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), Congress, UML, NCP and Shram Sanskriti Party. The ministry has stated that they have requested budget for projects including road, suspension bridge, concrete bridge, dam, and drainage construction. 

The Ministry of Physical Infrastructure has stated that projects worth between Rs 2 million and Rs 5 billion have been requested so far. Ramhari Pokharel, Joint Secretary and Spokesperson of the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport, said that people are coming to request plans to be included in the budget. ‘Earlier, before the budget was announced, around 10,000 plans were requested. Even if such plans were requested by the ministry, we used to send them to the Road Department,’ he said. ‘After that, the department sends them to the National Planning Commission only after considering the need and the type of project.’ 

The Ministry of Finance has stated that only projects finalized by the commission will be included in the budget. Joint Secretary Pokharel said that the National Planning Commission has set a budget ceiling of Rs 123 billion for the ministry for the coming fiscal year. Of this, Rs 31 billion is for the Kathmandu-Terai/Madhes Expressway. A ceiling of Rs 82 billion has been set for the Road Department under the ministry, of which Rs 80 billion is for capital.

The National Planning Commission has been suggesting that only projects worth more than Rs 30 million at the federal level, more than Rs 10 million at the provincial level, and small amounts at the local level should be kept in the project bank. In the coming fiscal year, Finance Minister Swarnim Wagle has been drawing the attention of the concerned bodies not to keep projects worth less than Rs 50 million in the federal level. Discussions are underway between the National Planning Ministry and the commission on this.

Exercising the sole authority mentioned in the constitution, the federal government has already formulated the ‘National Project Bank Standard-2081’ to have the same type of project bank at all three levels. It specifies which government will keep projects of how much budget in the bank. The National Planning Commission has taken strict measures to stop the trend of keeping small, fragmented projects implemented through the local level in the federal and provincial levels. It has been said that only projects with complementary, special and conditional grants received from the federal and provincial levels should be kept in the project bank so that the local level can implement them.

The National Planning Commission has been suggesting that only projects worth more than Rs 30 million in the federal government, more than Rs 10 million in the provincial government, and small projects at the local level be kept in the project bank. Finance Minister Swarnim Wagle has been drawing the attention of the concerned bodies not to keep projects worth less than Rs 50 million in the federal government in the coming fiscal year.  National Planning Commission member Arjun Jung Thapa said that discussions are underway to keep only projects worth more than Rs 50 million in the budget for the coming fiscal year in the federal government. ‘Discussions are underway to send small projects to the provincial and local levels,’ he said, ‘There is a preparation to keep only one project in one constituency under the Roads Department, which will be a big project.’ 

Road plans that could become highways in the future will be kept under the Roads Department, and if there is road infrastructure to connect the wards of the municipality, it will be sent to the Local Infrastructure Development Department (DOLI) under the Ministry of Urban Development, Thapa said. ‘A certain criterion will be made for this, projects costing more than Rs 60/70 crores to be completed in three/four years will be kept under the Road Department,’ he said, ‘We send projects costing from Rs 50 million to Rs 30/40 crores to the Doli. We send projects below Rs 50 million to the provincial and local levels.’

Of the projects that have come to the project bank system from various districts, 1,642 have been entered so far, said Diwakar Luitel, Information Officer of the National Planning Commission. ‘There are 77 ongoing and 262 new projects,’ he said, ‘There are 1,303 projects that are under study.’ 

7,09 projects from various districts have been kept in the project bank system, out of which only 1,642 have been selected. According to the data on the commission's website, 831 projects from the districts under Sudurpaschim, 715 from Karnali, 911 from Lumbini, 753 from Gandaki, 1,309 from Bagmati, 1,131 from Madhesh, and 1,369 from Koshi have been entered into the system.