Kathmandu, October 6

Members of Parliament will be able to spend Rs 40 million annually from government coffers for development projects in their electoral districts, albeit through local levels.

There are 165 first-past-the-post constituencies across the country where MPs will be able to recommend 22 projects worth Rs 6.6 billion in a year, said the secretary at the Ministry of Federal Affairs and General Administration. The lawmakers will have to select two projects of more than Rs 5 million in their constituencies.

MoFAGA has  prepared Local Infrastructure Development Partnership Programme (Operation Procedure) Regulations, 2018, which has been endorsed by the Cabinet.

Earlier, such amounts were allocated under the Constituency Development Fund and Constituency Infrastructure Special Programme which critics had dubbed ‘pork barrel funds’.

According to MoFAGA Secretary Dinesh Thapaliya, members of the National Assembly and members of the House of Representatives elected under the proportional representation system can choose to be members of the two panels to be formed in all electoral districts, but the lawmakers elected under FPTP electoral system will play decisive role in selecting development projects.

According to MoFAGA regulations, lawmakers have to coordinate with local governments before selecting development programmes. Thapaliya said the local levels would be the main executioners of the projects.

The regulations state that projects selected by lawmakers should be prioritised by local governments in their plans too.

In the past, lawmakers had full authority to decide what development project they wanted where, but that is not the case anymore as the regulations mandate lawmakers to coordinate with local levels before using the fund.

Thapaliya said that in the past lawmakers had power to spend money on administrative work and the district coordination committee also had some role in selecting projects, but the new regulations have removed these provisions.“The amount will be fully spent on infrastructure development,” he said, adding, “Rural municipalities and municipalities will have total control of these projects.”

Sources said Finance Minister Yuba Raj Khatiwada, who was averse to the idea of ‘pork barrel fund’, had brought in local levels as the main executioners of projects.

Development projects that can be undertaken under the new scheme include projects related to irrigation, river and landslide control, construction of roads and bridges, culverts and drains, drinking water and sanitation, management of garbage and construction of landfill sites.

The regulations state that lawmakers can recommend projects related to protection of various historical, cultural and archaeological sites, construction of renewable energy and small hydro power projects, health posts, hospitals and child care centres, among others.

According to member of Development and Technology Committee of the House of Representatives Yagya Raj Sunuwar, the new fund is not enough for lawmakers to carry out development work in their constituencies. “Lawmakers should be allowed to spend around 100 million rupees,” he said, adding that the fund would not be enough to carry out development projects. He, however, said lawmakers would not have problems working with local levels because both lawmakers and local levels wanted to develop society.

Rastriya Janata Party-Nepal lawmaker Laxman Lal Karna, however, said giving local levels the task of implementing development projects was wrong. “Local levels face the charge of embezzling funds. They do not have technical experts to oversee development projects,” he said, adding that the government should have given District Coordination Committees some role because they have the expertise to handle such projects.