After the Lumbini provincial government gave additional budget ceilings to the new ministers, the budget for the coming fiscal year is set to reach around Rs 38 billion.
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The Lumbini provincial government, which is preparing to reduce the budget by 2 billion, is preparing to bring a budget similar to the current fiscal year next year. The government had allocated a budget of 38.91 billion rupees for the current fiscal year.
Although efforts were made to keep the budget for the coming year within 36 billion, the size of the budget was increased at the last minute to please the new minister. The government had earlier sent a ceiling to the ministries to prepare the budget within 36 billion. However, the new minister was in trouble after the old ministers included most of the plans and amounts in the budget entry system according to the ceiling they received.
On Saturday, the government gave the new ministers an additional budget ceiling of at least 150 million rupees per ministry, and the work of budget preparation and new plan entry had moved forward. ‘The four new ministers have received an additional budget ceiling of more than 600 million rupees at a rate of at least 150 million rupees,’ said a provincial secretary, ‘that is why the size of the budget has also increased from 36 billion to almost 38 billion.’ The secretary said that the government, which has been criticized for bringing a deficit budget every year, is going to bring a deficit budget of about 5 billion rupees next year as well.
The Lumbini provincial government is going to start implementing the master plan of the provincial capital through the upcoming budget. The provincial government is preparing to implement the master plan by arranging a budget for the implementation of the master plan in the upcoming fiscal year budget to be made public on Monday.
After the capital of Lumbini province was shifted from Butwal to Deukhuri in Dang, the purchase and sale of land in the Deukhuri area has been banned. Despite the continuous demand of the locals for the release of land, the government had not shown any management or interest until the current fiscal year. The provincial government is carrying out ‘land pooling’ work in Deukhuri through the Provincial Development Authority established for the development of the capital. Preparations are being made to implement the master plan by managing a budget of about one billion rupees in the upcoming fiscal year to advance other works, including the land pooling work.
Chief Executive Director of the Authority, Chhabi Raj Pokharel, said that the Authority has been demanding budget every year for the work of opening the signature bridge connecting the roads, postal highways and grids under the land pooling, but it has not been addressed. ‘We have also demanded a budget for the upcoming year,’ he said, ‘I hope that the budget will be managed.’
The provincial government had formed the Provincial Development Authority in 2078 BS. Under it, the construction of 10 buildings for the Chief Minister and ministries in the provincial capital has been completed in the current fiscal year by allocating a budget of more than 3 billion rupees. After the construction of the buildings, the government has moved forward with the implementation of the master plan.
The master plan put forward the concept of an attractive settlement and a ‘virgin’ city on the banks of the Rapti River from the land pooling of the provincial capital. The Authority has put forward the concept of developing the capital in such a way that there will be no houses of less than one kattha. The land pooling work will be done in batches, said Pokharel, the chief executive director of the authority.
Similarly, the provincial government has allocated a budget of more than 1.5 billion rupees in the coming fiscal year for the Lumbini Provincial Hospital being built in Butwal under the Provincial Pride Project. Although a budget of 2 billion rupees was previously requested for the hospital, the provincial government removed four ministers from the UML and appointed new ministers during the budget preparation, which has affected the provincial hospital's budget.
An official of the provincial government said that the government has included 250 projects in the multi-year plan in the coming fiscal year, including 192 projects that are currently underway, 10 under the supplementary plan, and at least 46 new projects that will be added this year. In addition, the budget has been allocated by prioritizing the provincial road master plan, some new projects to be completed with co-investment at all three levels, and projects related to innovation and entrepreneurship. The official said that the implementation of old and incomplete projects is also a priority for the government.
Lumbini Provincial Planning Commission Vice-Chairman Dr. Dilliraj Aryal said that the government has made efforts to manage the budget in a way that ends the imbalance between expenditure and resources. He said that the government's payment obligations have been increasing for the past few years, which has also affected the preparation of the budget for the upcoming fiscal year. "The government's obligations are increasing every year," he said, "Although efforts have been made in the budget to end that imbalance, there is still a shortage of internal resources."
