KATHMANDU, Jan 13: The Kathmandu Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) said today that it failed to come up with its budget for the current fiscal year in time as it was without the people’s representatives for two months to take policy level decisions.

The KMC boss, executive officer Shiv Bhakta Sharma, however, said that it now has drafted its budget for fiscal year 2059-60 in line with the directives given to the KMC board of directors by the government. The new budget is aimed at expediting its responsibilities such as providing standard services and implementing effectively construction works in the Kathmandu city.

While formulating the budget, emphasis has been given to maintaining financial discipline while executing development works and planned development of Kathmandu, following austerity measures, cutting down unproductive expenditures by drastically reducing expenditure on advertisements, officer Sharma said. “Decision has also been taken to spend not more than 40 per cent of the KMC’s income on administration.”

Stress has also been put to control revenue leakage and grants provided by the KMC. Policy has also been enacted for provision to implement the infrastructure for which the erstwhile people’s representatives had taken decision and to continue to repair infrastructure facilities already constructed, Sharma added.

He said that budget has also been earmarked with special emphasis and priority to make the city pollution and waste free, to expedite the people’s participatory programmes and to undertake the Integrated Action Plan (IAP) as decided by the erstwhile representatives.

The KMC has decided and has also issued directives to continue with the functioning of the local government bodies after the retirement of the terms of the local representatives, he said.

He said that the KMC is effortful to make available services such as certification of relations, recommendation for citizenship certificates and okaying maps of housing. “And the KMC will soon bring out a white paper on how to provide its services to the city dwellers in a simple, easily available and transparent manner,” said Sharma.

The KMC will also make maximum use of its resources and observe strict financial discipline, he said.
He also claimed that there has been no irregularity in making payment for the management of waste at Shova Bhagwati. He accepted that a payment of Rs. 150,000 to the contractor was made by former mayor Keshav Sthapit at the recommendation of the Solid Waste Management and Resource Mobilisation Project under the Local Development Ministry. The remaining amount of Rs. 500,000 would be made later.

He denied that a payment of Rs. 3.5 million, which has been withheld since the last seven years, has not been made. He complained that newspapers had distorted this fact.