KATHMANDU: The country’s only metropolis, Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC), though belatedly, approved a budget of Rs 1.75 billion today. The fiscal programme is based on a deficit of Rs 180 million against Rs 230 million last year.
The Metropolis Council Meeting (MCM), scheduled for July 16 on the final day of the fiscal year, could not approve the fiscal budget and programmes on that day due to negligence on the part of the civic body’s political mechanism.
The MCM today approved a total budget of Rs 1,756,990,000 for fiscal year 2010/2011. “Of this amount, 62.98 per cent has been allocated to infrastructure and development programmes,” said Anand Raj Pokhrel, executive chief at KMC. “While 13.41 per cent has been allotted for capital expenditure, 15.40 per cent for salaries and perks and 8.21 per cent for operation,” he said.
Of the total budget, 55.14 per cent will be collected from internal sources, 26.10 per cent from other sources and 18.75 per cent from loans, said Pokhrel. “Administrative expenses will be 24.68 per cent compared to the internal incomes,” he said.
KMC expects to generate Rs 1.32 billion in internal revenue, while 20.92 per cent will comprise revenue from land and houses, 11.53 per cent from different fees and 33.22 per cent from grants and the remaining amount from other sources.
KMC increased its revenue from 50 per cent to 500 per cent a few weeks ago, citing it was equivalent to adjoining municipalities and village development committees. “Without raising revenue for a long time we made as much as other municipalities and VDCs this time,” said Pokhrel.
KMC, which stands at the 57th position among 58 municipalities across the country, has once again failed to meet minimum conditions and performance measures (MCPM) set by the Ministry of Local Development. It has neither addressed this issue nor been able to maintain transparency in the new budget. Besides, KMC is also guilty of not carrying out auditing in the last three years.
The indicators of MCPM set for the municipalities were not reasonable for KMC, said Deepak Koirala, deputy executive chief at KMC. “Some of the MCPM indicators set by the ministry should be changed, so we have appealed to the ministry to consider this,” he said, adding that KMC was rigorously working to maintain transparency and meet the MCPM standards in the days to come.
Plans up the metropolis sleeves
• Formulation of KMC master development plans
• Focus on metro-transportation
• Development of high rise apartments
• Modernisation of parking system
• Revision of organisational structure
• Creation of new quotas, including of ninth level
• Officer level secretaries in 12 wards
• Revision of KMC agreements older than five years
• Emphasis on geo-information technology
