Even after five and a half months of the current fiscal year, 539 major infrastructure projects including roads, buildings, bridges, drinking water, irrigation, and others have not been implemented in Karnali.

In Karnali Province, 185 projects of the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Urban Development and 354 projects of the Ministry of Water Resources and Energy Development, which have the highest budget allocation, have not been implemented. 

So far, no development project has been completed in Karnali.  Due to this, the expenditure of the provincial government has been seen as the lowest ever . The Karnali government, which brought a budget of Rs 32.99 billion this year, has been able to spend only Rs 3.25 billion (9.87 percent) of the budget by mid-Mansir. 

The Ministry of Physical Infrastructure has allocated funds for 510 major projects including roads, bridges, buildings and others this year . Of these, 108 projects had been submitted to the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Planning for multi-year approval two months ago. However, a decision on these projects has not been taken yet, said Ramesh Subedi, spokesperson for the ministry.

According to him, problems have arisen in the implementation of 37 projects due to forest area and land disputes. Ministry spokesperson Subedi said that the plans could not be implemented due to delays in multi-year approvals, legal and technical problems, shortage of technical staff, Genji movement, festivals, lack of environmental impact assessment, etc. ‘Only one-third of the budgeted plans have been secured, which has caused problems in the implementation of the plans. For the remaining plans, we are forced to depend on the support of donor agencies such as the federal government and the Asian Development Bank,’ he said. ‘The Genji movement also had a big impact, some plans were delayed even when they had to be coordinated with the federal government.’ 

The ministry has so far been able to manage contracts for only 325 plans.  The ministry has received a budget of 11.1 billion 21 million this year.  Of which, only 687 million rupees (6.24 percent) has been able to spend the budget. 

The ministry has plans ranging from 2 million to 15 million. According to the ministry, the Infrastructure Development Directorate in Surkhet has managed the most contracts with 62 and the Infrastructure Development Office in Humla has managed the least with 12. 

Similarly, the second ministry that received the most budget, the Ministry of Water Resources and Energy Development, has implemented only 1,053 out of 1,407 plans.  This year, the ministry has been able to spend only 166.6 million (4.35 percent) of the budget of 3.83 billion. .

This year, the ministry has allocated the most money to 212 plans in Humla.  Humla is the home district of Water Resources and Energy Minister Vijaya Budha. But the situation of project implementation there is critical.  So far, only 50 plans have been implemented in the district. 

The budget expenditure has been disappointing as the ministries that received the most budget and had big plans have been weak, said Dipendra Magarati, Information Officer at the Provincial Treasury Controller's Office.  "The expenditure has been spent only on salaries of employees and officials, purchases, vehicles and maintenance," he said. "Most of the plans have not been authorized, so the budget has been accumulated."

The Karnali government has set a target of 80 percent budget implementation this year. Chief Minister Yamalal Kandel had signed a performance agreement with ministers in Shrawan last year to accelerate budget implementation. In Shrawan itself, he had gathered 135 offices under the province and asked them to make 10-point commitments.

Administrative expenditure in Karnali is almost 5 times higher than development expenditure. This year, the government has spent 879 million rupees (4.36 percent) out of 19.98 billion rupees on capital (development) expenditure, while it has been able to spend only 2.38 billion rupees (19.24 percent) out of 12.39 billion rupees on current (administrative) expenditure.

Economist Ved Prasad Devkota said that the time has come for the provincial government to become self-reliant by increasing its income and spending the budget according to its targets. ‘A large number of the budgets provided by the federal government are also being frozen every year,’ he said. ‘Since even half of the budget allocated every year has not been spent, the people have not been able to experience the provincial government.’

The Karnali government has decided not to implement plans worth less than Rs 2 million. According to the second amended procedure regarding the project proposal and selection process, it has been arranged not to implement plans worth less than Rs 5 million in road infrastructure and lift system irrigation and drinking water projects.