Easing tensions between different levels of the government and improving capacity at the local levels would support a successful federal transition in Nepal, a new World Bank report reads.
The report ‘South Asia Economic Focus’ under the theme of ‘Making (De)centralisation Work’ also stated that the transition will need time to deliver better services and managing the expectation of people will be helpful for this. It is the report that the global development bank publishes every six months.
Nepal has adopted federalism under which separate the governments have been formed at three levels; central, provincial and local with relatively more power to the provincial and local levels compared to the past. There are elected governments at all three levels since the elections were held of all levels in 2017.
Despite high expectations of people from the federal set up, service delivery for the sub-national governments – provincial and local – has been challenging due to their capacity constraints, according to the report. “Three of the seven provinces spent less than half of the budgeted expenditure in the last fiscal year 2018-19 and some local government seems still dysfunctional.”
The World Bank report suggested – for decentralisation to work – prioritising both decentralisation and centralisation highlighting the important role of sub-national governments to ensure better service delivery and the central government’s role to create integrated market and ensuring harmonious standards. “The central government can set the standard for education, health care, the environment and other services,” it reads, adding, “Without effective central government, decentralisation can degenerate into fragmentation.”
Highlighting the report’s findings, on the occasion, chief economist for South Asia of the World Bank Dr Hans Timmer said that without effective central government, an integrated market for the businesses could not be created nationwide. “You can learn from the example of Pakistan where different laws and rules in different provinces are creating chaotic situation,” he said, adding that, however, in the case of Nepal, the sub-national governments don’t have enough power. “A lot of infrastructure projects are handled by the national government. In such a situation, it is difficult to implement decentralisation effectively.”
Sharing experiences about running local governments in the last two years, mayor of Chandannath Municipality in Jumla Kantika Sejuwal said that the local governments are more empowered by the constitution as it gave them rights to frame their own laws and rules. “As such laws should be consistent with the federal laws, the federal governments’ delay in formulating laws in line with new constitution, hampered the local government's effort in creating legal framework for the service delivery.”
Complaining about the little resources allocated for the local levels, she said that local governments should also be involved in large scale infrastructure projects.
Prof Dr Pushkar Bajracharya of Tribhuvan University (TU), on the occasion, stressed on the need for central government incentivising the local governments provided they make proper initiative for the development of the local economy.
Likewise, chairman of the Institute for Integrated Development Studies (IIDS) and former vice chair of National Planning Commission (NPC) Dr Swarnim Wagle said that both central and sub-national governments have roles to play to make decentralisation a success. “The central government should be involved in the areas where there is an economy of scale and maintaining law and order, judicial system, water resources and creating common standards in the areas of education,” he said, adding that local government should, however, be given full authority in public service delivery.
The report ‘South Asia Economic Focus’ under the theme of ‘Making (De)centralisation Work’ also stated that the transition will need time to deliver better services and managing the expectation of people will be helpful for this. It is the report that the global development bank publishes every six months.
Nepal has adopted federalism under which separate the governments have been formed at three levels; central, provincial and local with relatively more power to the provincial and local levels compared to the past. There are elected governments at all three levels since the elections were held of all levels in 2017.
Despite high expectations of people from the federal set up, service delivery for the sub-national governments – provincial and local – has been challenging due to their capacity constraints, according to the report. “Three of the seven provinces spent less than half of the budgeted expenditure in the last fiscal year 2018-19 and some local government seems still dysfunctional.”
The World Bank report suggested – for decentralisation to work – prioritising both decentralisation and centralisation highlighting the important role of sub-national governments to ensure better service delivery and the central government’s role to create integrated market and ensuring harmonious standards. “The central government can set the standard for education, health care, the environment and other services,” it reads, adding, “Without effective central government, decentralisation can degenerate into fragmentation.”
Highlighting the report’s findings, on the occasion, chief economist for South Asia of the World Bank Dr Hans Timmer said that without effective central government, an integrated market for the businesses could not be created nationwide. “You can learn from the example of Pakistan where different laws and rules in different provinces are creating chaotic situation,” he said, adding that, however, in the case of Nepal, the sub-national governments don’t have enough power. “A lot of infrastructure projects are handled by the national government. In such a situation, it is difficult to implement decentralisation effectively.”
Sharing experiences about running local governments in the last two years, mayor of Chandannath Municipality in Jumla Kantika Sejuwal said that the local governments are more empowered by the constitution as it gave them rights to frame their own laws and rules. “As such laws should be consistent with the federal laws, the federal governments’ delay in formulating laws in line with new constitution, hampered the local government's effort in creating legal framework for the service delivery.”
Complaining about the little resources allocated for the local levels, she said that local governments should also be involved in large scale infrastructure projects.
Prof Dr Pushkar Bajracharya of Tribhuvan University (TU), on the occasion, stressed on the need for central government incentivising the local governments provided they make proper initiative for the development of the local economy.
Likewise, chairman of the Institute for Integrated Development Studies (IIDS) and former vice chair of National Planning Commission (NPC) Dr Swarnim Wagle said that both central and sub-national governments have roles to play to make decentralisation a success. “The central government should be involved in the areas where there is an economy of scale and maintaining law and order, judicial system, water resources and creating common standards in the areas of education,” he said, adding that local government should, however, be given full authority in public service delivery.
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