Kathmandu

Compared to the previous fiscal, the land and house registration revenue collection for the fiscal year 2014-15 has soared significantly. According to the pre-liminary data maintained by the Department of Land Reform and Management (DoLRM), it collected as much as Rs 10.585 billion in the last fiscal. The revenue collection has increased by 35 per cent as compared to  collection in the previous fiscal (Rs 7.813 billion). Moreover, the revenue collection of the fiscal does not include the collection

of some 29 Inland Revenue Offices (IROs) in various districts.

Registration revenue collection in the Kathmandu valley witnessed a slight increase of four per cent from Rs 3.396 billion to Rs 3.565 billion due to the April 25 earthquake.

Despite the growth in revenue collection, stakeholders complained that land transactions has not seen a significant boost.

According to them, increment in minimum land valuation by the government and promotion of village development committees (VDCs) to municipalities are some major reasons behind the boost in revenue collection.

Stating that the revenue collection was impressive from the very beginning of the last fiscal, Section Officer at DoLRM, Raju Basnet said, “The revenue collection boost is largely because of increment in minimum land valuation of most areas of the valley, promotion of VDCs to municipalities and stable real estate sector.” He projected that the revenue collection would go up by Rs 80 million as they are yet to receive revenue collection from 29 IROs in various districts.

The IRO of Kathmandu (Dillibazar) topped the chart with revenue collection of Rs 1.116 billion in the valley. However, the collection is Rs 66 million less than the collection of the fiscal year 2013-14 — Rs 1.182 billion. Previously, there were five IROs — Kathmandu,  Lalitpur, Chabahil, Kalanki and Bhaktapur and   now the DoLRM has established two new IROs at Mainamaiju and Sankhu for Kathmandu since mid-April this year.

The IRO of Lalitpur collected registration revenue of Rs 625 million in this fiscal, which is up by only Rs four million as compared to the collection of the last fiscal year of Rs 621 million.

“The revenue collection at our office has experienced  slim growth due to the April 25 earthquake,” said Ganesh Chapagain, Chief Revenue Officer at IRO of Lalitpur, adding that otherwise, the revenue collection would have gone even higher. “As the valley including Lalitpur was one of the most affected districts by the quake, transactions have dropped significantly from May to July.”

Blaming the government of being only revenue-oriented, Vice President of Nepal Land and Housing Developers Association, Ichchha Bahadur Wagle said, “Boost in revenue collection is not the real indication of increase in land and housing transactions.” He opined that the increase in minimum land valuation up to 40 per cent in a year and over burden of registration gain tax are the major reasons behind it.

Being optimistic about the government’s decision to allow land plotting only through registered companies, Wagle said, “It is indeed good news to keep the sector organised and more transparent,” adding that the government should focus on its implementation. According to him, of late, Simara and Nijgadh of Bara district are witnessing the highest land transactions as the government is going to introduce five national pride projects in these areas.

Moreover, Bardibash, Chitwan, Itahari, Hetauda, Dang, Jhapa et cetera are also recording high land transactions.