Railway dept won't get a single penny in 2012/13

Though the government plans to lay down 4,000 km railway lines across the country within the next 20 years, it has not allocated even a penny for the Department of Railway (DoR) - the implementing agency - for the coming fiscal year 2012/13.
“Our parent ministry, the Ministry of Physical Planning and Works (MoPPW), has not arranged budget for us for the upcoming fiscal year. I have been asked to get budget from the Department of Roads,” Ram Prasad Lamsal, director general of DoR, told Republica.
The government had formed DoR in June last year with an aim to speed up the process of laying down railway lines.
Minister for Physical Planning and Works Hridayesh Tripathi, however, said the government has allocated budget for DoR. “The only thing is that it hasn´t been allocated under a separate heading due to some technical reasons,” Tripathi said.
Sources at the finance ministry, which is in the process of planning budget for the next fiscal year, admit that there has been no budgetary allocation for DoR. “We allocate budget as per the request of the concerned ministry,” Lok Darshan Regmi, joint secretary of Ministry of Finance said. “MoPPW didn´t propose separate budget for DoR for the coming fiscal year.”
The government had allocated Rs 7 million to DoR as recurrent expenditure in the current fiscal year. It had established the department with a vision of developing 4,000 km railway line across the country, including the East-West Railway, Kathmandu-Pokhara Railway, Kathmandu-Tibet Railway and railway lines that connect major bordering towns of India and Nepal, within 20 years.
Moreover, it is supposed to oversee management of railway, metro rail, ropeways and cable car lines in the country.
“If we are to get budget from the Department of Roads, what is the point behind forming a separate department,” Lamsal said.
Ironically, the government has identified East-West Railway as a national pride project and most of the railway projects are in the government´s first priority (P1).
Minister Tripathi, who said DoR was not allocated budget due to technical reasons, throughout the week was lobbying with the government through parliamentary committees to allocate budget for Jayanagar-Bijulpura railway.

Trade policy expert wing in MoCS

Acknowledging the fact that handling issues related to trade and its dynamism is beyond the capacity of civil servants, government has decided to set up Trade Policy Analytical Wing (TPAW) in the Ministry of Commerce and Supplies (MoCS).
The wing comprising experts on trade policy and development will support the World Trade Organization (WTO) division and trade related issues at the MoCS.
“Analyzing the trade issues and policies is definitely beyond the capacity of administrative staffs,” Toya Narayan Gyawali, joint secretary of the ministry said. “It was decided to establish the TPAW in order to fill that gap.”
According to Gyawali, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has agreed to assist the ministry in this regard. “The wing will be completely under the WTO division of the ministry,” he said, “The purpose of establishing the wing is to be more efficient and prepare ourselves for bilateral and multilateral negotiation.”
Nepal which became a WTO member in 2004 has no such body in the ministry till the date. Referring to the frequent transfer of the staffs in the ministry, Gyawali said, “The wing of experts will always be there to support anyone that comes to work here.” The wing will have a maximum of 3 people, according to Gyawali.
Government prepared a Nepal Trade Integration Strategy (NTIS) 2010 -- a blueprint to boost the country´s export -- is looking forward to various bilateral and multilateral trade talks in different forums.
“We also need feedback from experts to know the trend of global trade before sitting for negotiations with different countries and agencies,” said Gyawali, who is also the chief of the WTO division. “Wing´s main responsibility will be to make a sound base for negotiation and provide feedback for decision making.”
The government is preparing to have regular bilateral talk with countries like the US, China and Bangladesh in the near future.
“The wing will be established now in the temporary basis,” Gyawali said, “We might think of making it a permanent body of the ministry after some time.” The government has completed the trade policy review of the country under WTO norms in March.

Provide Rs 1.25 billion for Janakpur-Bijulpura railway project, PAC tells MoF

Public Account Committee of the Parliament has directed Ministry of Finance (MoF) to provide Rs 1.25 billion to the Department of Railway (DoR) within a week so that it can acquire land for the construction and expansion of Janakpur-Bijulapura railway track, which India has agreed to develop.
"The committee directs MoF to allocate the required budget for land acquisition within a week," Ram Krishna Yadav, chair-person of the committee said after a hearing on Monday. The DoR said it needs Rs 1.25 billion for completing the land acquisiton process.
"The committee also directs the Ministry of Physical Planning and Works (MoPPW) to distribute compensation to the land owners within a month," said Yadav.
Project to develop Janakpur-Bijulapura railway track was agreed between Nepal and India in February 2010, when President Ram Baran Yadav visited India. Under the project, the Indian government agreed to upgrade the existing 51-km long railway track to broad gauge and extend it up to Bardibas, a major junction along the East-West Highway.
But the project has stalled since the MoPPW placed the project in least priority. As a result, the MoF had been reluctant to provide budget for the project.
On Monday, however, MoF officials said the ministry was trying its best to arrange budget within this fiscal year. The committee, after hearing the MoF officials, instructed the ministry to manage the required fund by pooling the unspent budget from other projects.
Lawmakers in the committee also asked Minister for Physical Planning and Works Hriyedesh Tripathi to raise complications that he faced due to diverse status of land owners with Prime Minister Dr Babu Ram Bhattarai and sort out the problem.
Tripathi said the land being acquired by the government was agricultural land. "If we did not compensate the farmers right away, the locals will simply not handover the land to us. This will only subject us to difficulty," said he, demanding release of complete fund at one go.
According to DoR, it needs to acquire a total of 220 hectares of land from Janakpur to Bijulpura to upgrade the existing track.