Kathmandu. The private sector is excited about the policies and programs for the upcoming fiscal year 2082/83 brought by the government.
Especially the construction sector, which is the backbone of development, has prioritized the issues it has raised for a long time and said that the issues in the policies and programs should now be implemented through the budget.
Mukesh Pant, Associate Vice President of the Federation of Nepal Construction Entrepreneurs, said that the policy to resolve construction projects that cannot be completed is positive.
According to him, some of the issues in the policies and programs are not complete for the construction of the country’s infrastructure. Construction entrepreneurs have been suffering from poverty for a long time. Pant says that those entrepreneurs are not in a position to rise above ordinary programs.
He said, ‘There is no situation where ordinary programs can help us get out of the quagmire. The government should bring a special relief package to uplift the construction industry. However, it is welcome that the policy and program do not resume old projects that do not have budgets.’
According to Vice President Panta, there is no clear provision for policy-level reforms in the policy and program. He said that the policy and program do not include the amendment of laws that are currently an obstacle to building the backbone infrastructure of the country’s development for the construction industry in Nepal.
According to him, the construction industry should be further strengthened and an environment conducive to doing business should be created. For that, policies and regulations should be changed. Although the government has mentioned in the policy and program to amend the Public Procurement Act what to do, it should come through the budget, he said.
Vice President Panta said that construction businesses have been in trouble for a long time because they have not been able to complete construction and the policy and program has not been able to bring a financial package. Now, the government should come up with special financial packages to complete the remaining construction work by rescheduling those who have taken loans or providing loans at a more concessional interest rate, Vice President Panta said.
Stating that the government’s policy of not doing new projects and bringing budgets for old projects in an ethical manner is positive, he said that the policy and program did not show how to ensure budget for projects made under the 14th amendment.
According to him, there is a risk that the construction work will not be completed on time due to lack of budget even if the deadline is extended. Now, the deadline of all projects is extended and the budget of existing projects should be included in the upcoming budget.
The reason why construction work is not being done on time is due to the tendency to select infrastructures in a hurry and move forward with projects without completing any preparatory work for implementing them.
He understands that there is no provision of adequate budget for land acquisition and forest in terms of preparatory work and that errors occur when multi-year contracts are called with a small budget. According to Vice President Panta, it has been said that adequate budget should be kept in ongoing projects rather than in new projects.
If there are errors in the design and statement, the concerned body should resolve them as soon as possible. There is no budget in the projects that are going to be extended in the 14th amendment. Panta says that adequate allocation should be made in the upcoming budget.
Rather than selecting new projects, the upcoming budget should be made to complete existing projects quickly and benefit the people. There is a big problem of tax and VAT in the construction sector in the upcoming budget. Panta said that a budget should be brought that will exempt fines and interest by paying the fine and getting rid of it.
Vice President of the Confederation of Nepalese Industries Birendra Raj Pandey said that many issues raised by the private sector have been included in the policy and program. Pandey said that the policy and program are viewed positively overall because they include issues such as facilitating doing business and increasing private sector investment.
He said that it is meaningful how policies and programs are included in the budget, whether they can fit everything or not.
According to him, although the index looks somewhat positive, the morale of businessmen has not increased. At a time when the sluggishness of the last 3/4 years has not gone away, liquidity in banks has been suffocated, interest rates have not increased even after a decrease, and overall demand is shrinking, it is a positive aspect for the government to reform laws through ordinances.
Pandey said, “The policy and commission have said that they will implement the report of the high-level commission, and if it is implemented, it will be positive. Policies and programs such as increasing investment in the industrial sector, prioritizing NTIS, celebrating the internal employment decade, building exhibition centers, and monetizing public companies have been included in the policies and programs. It is positive to advance projects that will give returns to the economic sector while conducting the census.
According to him, the source of revenue has shrunk, we should pay attention to how to manage international private investment. He said that the inclusion in the policy and program of establishing a separate fund to advance the infrastructure sector is positive.
He understands that the traditional style of investing in priority areas will not work. According to Pandey, an ambitious budget is necessary to change the current style. A budget to increase capital expenditure should be brought into it. That will also make the private sector dynamic. Budget spending in unproductive areas should be made economical in the budget.
According to Pandey, the government should now spend the budget on projects that can be completed on time after studying and only those that can give sustainable returns. The government has adopted a policy of upgrading the country from an underdeveloped country to a developed country, achieving the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030, and becoming carbon neutral.
Since the 16th Five-Year Plan also has some goals, necessary policies should be formulated by including them in the budget. Pandey understands that it is natural for the government to bring an ambitious budget to meet those goals.
The Confederation of Nepalese Industries has been collecting and submitting the suggestions it has brought to the government by visiting the industries. He said that it is positive for the government to include those suggestions in the budget. However, Pandey said that there is a tendency for some suggestions to not be implemented even though they are included in the budget, and it is necessary to rectify it.
The reason why some programs included in the budget cannot be implemented may be due to incomplete preparation. He understands that there are problems in budget implementation due to the lack of stability due to the change of government.
Stating that the budget is implemented at an average of 65-66 percent in the infrastructure sector, Pandey understands that the government needs to do its homework on how to increase budget spending in such areas.
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