Prez presents govt policy and program

Kathmandu, July-9 President Dr Ram Baran Yadav presented the government's policy and program for the fiscal year 2015-16 at parliament on Wednesday.

In its policy and program, the government has laid special emphasis on the reconstruction of infrastructure destroyed by the devastating earthquake.

It has also given priority to completing the national tasks of constitution making, the peace process, the holding of local elections and completing major development projects.

While reviewing the policy and program with the goal of upgrading Nepal from the status of a least developed country to that of a developing country by 2022, the government has said that a Vision 2030 will be formulated and implemented to bring Nepal up to the standard of a middle-income country by 2030.

It has said the budget for the next fiscal year will be focused on reconstruction of the damage caused by earthquake, as well as on energy, physical infrastructure development, commercialization of agriculture, industrial development, tourism promotion, employment generation and social development, while also contributing to economic growth.

This time, the government has announced that it is to discourage the tendency of making budget appropriations without carrying out a detailed feasibility study of a given project and that a policy will be adopted for making budget appropriations only for projects that have completed their pre-construction phase. "Emphasis will be laid on timely completion of past projects that are yet to see completion," states the 112-point document read out by the head of state.

The document announced that it is to bring in the concepts of public-private partnership, cooperatives and community-based people's participation for implementation in order to re-activate the economy while normalizing the sluggishness and other effects seen in major sectors of the economy because of the earthquake.

The government aims at enhancing the implementation capacity of projects by applying a performance-based incentive system for national pride projects and other large-scale works.

It said the required laws will be formulated and enforced to resolve complications in land acquisition that have posed a major challenge to infrastructure development projects related to hydropower, roads and drinking water, among others.

Finance Minister Ram Sharan Mahat last week presented the principles and priorities of the budget and lawmakers aired their views during pre-budget discussions.

Speaker Subas Nembang announced deliberations on the policy and program for two days starting Friday.

The finance minister will unveil the annual budget on July 13. Parliament will first endorse the vote on account bill by July 16, the last day of the current fiscal year.

Finally, the entire budget will be endorsed following thorough deliberations on the proposed budget program. 

Source: Republica