Drinking Water
* Nearly at the closing time of current fiscal year, the discussion on budget for the 2069/70 has been
started and the concerned ministries have commenced their tasks. Like in other sectors, there has been a
wide discussion held with concerned parties on the subject of drinking water and sanitation and how the
budget should be classified in the upcoming budget.
Mr. Rajan Khanal (Joint Secretary & Spokesperson, Ministry of Finance)
He says budget is mainly prepared through two processes and says that the regular or committed
cost (budget) is a simple and easy one which covers the expenses made on salaries, allowances
and other general titles. He clarifies that while determining and allocating such budget, discussion
is made with concerned ministries. He says that this task is an easy one and is being done by the
Ministry of Finance. But to set up new development plans and programs and initiate new policies,
there has to be a discussion arranged with the technical level, which he says is still stayed behind.
He also reported that under the limitation of allocated budget, the task of allotting it into various
titles is undertaken. He adds that the ministry of finance has enough time to do this task.
* Availability of water and sanitation plays a crucial role in the overall socio-economic development of a
community. Government has also given major priority to this sector in budget. Government has allocated
about Rs. 4 billion on drinking water and sanitation sector in the budget of current fiscal year. In this
connection, according to a study conducted by PRAD-Nepal, about 80% of the total population of Nepal
has got access to drinking water where only 9% is reported to have access to pure drinking water.
Mr. Nabin Adhikari, Researcher, PRAD-Nepal
He says that about 20% of the GDP is spent on the social sector. Of the total budget, about 40%
has been spent for the development of social sector where the component of drinking water and
sanitation occupies only 3%. He reports that on the part of social sector, local development and
education have got more shares. He says that according to the data revealed, nearly Rs. 65 billion
was spent in 2010 and this amount was only 20 billion in the year of 2005. That shows the
increment 300% and he agrees that the spending on drinking water is satisfactory in terms of
spending and coverage, but he says that there is not a satisfactory investment on sanitation.
Mr. Rajan Khanal (Joint Secretary & Spokesperson, Ministry of Finance)
Referring to the study result of PRAD Nepal, he reports that the expenditure made on drinking
water is good. He expresses that the Government of Nepal has spent a good sum of money on
rural drinking water, urban drinking water, and water for Kathmandu Valley through various ways.
He also says that the government has allocated or invested budget for drinking water through the
means of Fund Board in the districts where there are no district level drinking water corporations.
Referring to the research report revealed by PRAD Nepal, Mr. Khanal says that there is a need of
additional budget for the expansion and improvement of drinking water and sanitation sector in
Nepal.
*There has been a problem of drinking water in urban areas than in the rural areas of Nepal.
Out of the total programs formulated by the government, about 20% are reported to be
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unimplemented. On one side, the government has targeted to provide drinking water to all by
the end of 2015, but on the other a big problem is observed in the part of pure drinking water.
Drinking water and sanitation are both included into one in the policy, but in the sector of
sanitation there is less work done compared to the drinking water. Also, because of less
communication and poor coordination among the authorities involved in the sector of drinking
water and sanitation, essential progress is not obtained, and the problem of urbanization is
viewed as an another obscurity to be so.
Mr. Nabin Adhikari, Researcher, PRAD-Nepal
Based on the results obtained from survey of PRAD-Nepal, he says that out of the total, 20%
viewed that the Government budget on drinking water and sanitation was not functional at all,
20% reported that it was bad, 20% said that it was functional, and 55% were in the view that it
was moderate. He explains that due to this there is no link up in productivity. He says that
although sanitation and drinking water sectors are integrated together in policy, the coverage of
sanitation is less while compared to the exposure of drinking water.
Mr. Rajan Khanal (Joint Secretary & Spokesperson, Ministry of Finance)
He says that the there are problems in distributing drinking water in urban areas because of the
process of rapidly growing urbanization and lack of the sources of drinking water. Therefore to
curtail this problem, he argues that alternative sources of water must be used to fulfill the
demand of water either by harvesting rainwater or drawing it out from underground and purifying
it. He also adds that the Municipality Development Fund has also been conducting some kinds of
programs for distributing drinking water in the urban areas.
*Concerned authorities have demanded additional funds to be allocated on the sector of
drinking water and sanitation in the upcoming budget. Also, the focus should be spotlighted on
the plans and actions formulated by the government, and careful attention should be given to
the projects where there is public involvement and people are capable of conducting such
projects in a sustainable way.
Mr. Nabin Adhikari, Researcher, PRAD-Nepal
He argues that there should be the reallocation and reshuffling of budget and tells that the non
functional and partially functional drinking water projects must be made fully functional to
achieve success. He views that in the new upcoming projects there must be an equal priority given
to the sanitation and drinking water projects. He means that the budget allocated towards the
sanitation sector must be like the one that is prepared for the drinking water projects.
*At present, drinking water and sanitation has become a major problem in the valley and
different parts of the country. Expansion on urbanization is a cause for this problem. To
recuperate this problem, government has to allocate necessary budget on drinking water and
sanitation and make the policies and rules effectively implementable. From this, it is expected
that there will be some relief to the mass consumers.
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Education
*Government of Nepal has given much precedence for the development of education, and has listed this
sector on the top priority at the list of Millennium Development Goal. In current fiscal year, the
Government of Nepal has allocated about 17% of its total budget on Education sector spotlighting the
need of education in the country. Likewise, local governments, communities, NGOs and INGOs have also
significantly contributed to this sector. In regard to this connection, (Policy Research and Development)
PRAD- Nepal has conducted a study focusing on the status, expenditure structure and the benefits
obtained by the public from the Education Program Budget.
Mr. Kishor Maharjan, Researcher, PRAD-Nepal
He says that about 16-17% of the total budget is allocated by the Government of Nepal on education
sector. He says that this expenditure is in rising ratio and this increment has become 14%. He reports that
from the GDP, about 3.5% has been allocated on Education sector. According to him, in comparison to
SAARC countries except India, Nepal has shown a significant rank regarding its investment on the education
while it is almost equal when judged against India.
Mr. Rajan Khanal, Joint Secretary & Spokesperson, Ministry of Financ
He says that Education sector has got a significant importance and has been listed in the priority list of
Millennium Development Goal. Referring to the report of Mid-Term Evaluation report, he says that the
focus has to be set on the female children’s education, admission rate of students and increment of literacy
rate in public schools. He expresses that out of the total, Rs. 62 billion is allocated for the education sector
where almost 60 billion is only expended on salaries, allowance and facilities.
*Results show that the expenditure on education is satisfactory. Currently, basic education, primary
education and higher education projects are run through various planning and programs. Of the total
education budget, statistics show that 60% has been invested on primary education only.
Mr. Rajan Khanal, Joint Secretary & Spokesperson, Ministry of Finance
He also states that the expenses on education is not satisfactory, and addresses that there is a need to
increase the budget on education in the upcoming fiscal years. He recorded that there is 60% expenditure
on primary education where 16% is allotted to basic education. He also focuses that at least 20% of the
total government budget has to be allocated to education sector to meet the target of Millennium
Development Goal. His view is that compared to other sectors, the progress in education has been
acceptable and reports that there has been several awareness programs being held to do much better in
this sector from educational and political branches.
Mr. Kishor Maharjan, Researcher, PRAD-Nepal
He says that about more than 60% of the total budget has been recorded to be invested on primary
education and states that the Government is also focusing on this sector for several reasons. During last
seven years, through about 43/44 to 50 programs, this amount of expenditure has been invested on
education. The pattern of expenditure shows that 71 to 77% of the total expenditure source is obtained
from the Government and 22 to 31% of expenditure is managed from external sources.
*The subsidy and concession provided by the Government to the marginalized class of rural areas has not
been reached. Although the access of such group is high on primary education, their access to secondary
and higher education is much less. Also, it is essential to stabilize the investment of donors in this sector.
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Mr. Rajan Khanal, Joint Secretary & Spokesperson, Ministry of Finance
He says that if the allocated budget on education is invested accurately, there is question of depriving
children from education in Nepal. He claims that there is no scarce of budget on education in fact, if
invested correctly.
Mr. Kishor Maharjan, Researcher, PRAD-Nepal
He says that about 6% children of Nepal have not access to the primary education, and adds that the
allocation has to be increased for the progress in basic education by providing educational special
packages. He also raises the issue of cash transfer. He argues that if this cash transfer is implemented,
excluded children or the children who are deprived of education can be included. He reports that although
the access of poor households is alright towards primary education their access to higher and vocational
education seems less. On the other side, the access of the children from rich households has been
drastically reduced at primary, secondary and tertiary level, which he thinks might be due to the growing
tendency of sending children to private schools among well to do families.
*Although the investment on education sector has been increasing in public schools, the quality of
education in latest years is diminishing. Even though they are expensive, compared to public schools,
private schools are good in providing quality education and the trend of sending children to private
schools is increasing.
Mr. Kishor Maharjan, Researcher, PRAD-Nepal
He clarifies that there are two types of education system in Nepal, private and public. Referring to the
results obtained from the research, he says that the percentage of students who pass SLC exam from
private schools is about 96-97 percentage.
*For the overall socio-economic development of the country, the development of education is a
fundamental base. To achieve this goal the government has to increase the budget on education. Also,
the government has to identify the predicament rendering in this sector and must focus on minimizing
such problems.
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Health
*Nearly at the closing time of current fiscal year, the discussion regarding budget for the
upcoming year has been started. In this connection, PRAD Nepal in coordination with the Global
Development Network has conducted a study on health, education and drinking water, the
social sectors prioritized by the Government of Nepal with a goal of discovering the condition of
budget planning, resources allocation and expenditure management. The aim of this study is to
make the government conscious about the allocation of the budget and let them address this
conclusion through budget.
Mr. Prithvi Raj Ligal, Ex Vice-Chairman, National Planning Commission
He states that the purpose of this study was to analyze the impact of the expenditure of program
budget on health, education and drinking water and examine the effectiveness and implication of
that budget on people since 2005 to 2011/12. He further says that the Benefit Incidence Analysis
was conducted to see how the benefits were divided among all, whether the benefit was tilted on
the side of rich or the poor. He added that over the program budget, the cost effective and policy
simulation analysis were also conducted to examine the nature of the impact and result that could
be seen when made some modifications on the program budget. He also says that this was
examined from the perspective of cost analysis over the selection of programs. Based on the
results obtained from the study and respondents’ benefits and feedbacks, he clarified that the aim
of this study is to provide suggestions to the government for better and effective selection of
programs and allocation of budgets in the days to come.
*In the country, about 7% of the total budget is allocated to the health sector and this share
becomes only 1.5% in total GDP. In latest years, the percentage of expenditures allocated to
health sector has been increasing and due to this, country has been progressing in the areas of
primary and basic health.
Prof. Dr. Devendra Prasad Shrestha, Researcher, PRAD Nepal
He reports that on the basis of the analysis of expenditure over the last five years, the allocation
and spending on health sector is increasing. He adds that when analyzing the government
expenditure on health, along with the increment of total budget in recent years, health sector has
also got the significant amount of money to spend.
Dr. Mingmar Gyaljen Sherpa, Director General, Health Service Department
He says that compared to last year’s expenses the health budget is increasing. He adds that to
meet the target of New Millennium Development Goal, Government has been making solid efforts
from its side whatever it can and clarifies that it is close to the goal as well. The Ministry of Health
has been implementing many programs and they are being successful.
Rajan Khanal, Joint Secretary & Spokesperson, Ministry of Finance
He states that the government has allocated huge amount of budget on the control of
communicable diseases which is invested through the District Health Offices. He says that there
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has been also a significant amount of expenditure on the supply of basic medicine to the public.
He reports that the expenses are also made on the construction of rural health posts and
launching of women-children welfare programs.
*Yet, there have been many problems prevailing in the health sector in our country. The major
problem is that the allocation of budget to this sector is being less than needed. Due to higher
regular expenditure and lesser capital expenditure, the allocated budget has not been utilized
properly. There is a high dependency upon the donors.
Prof. Dr. Devendra Prasad Shrestha, Researcher, PRAD Nepal
He says that the donor dependency is more on budget and reports that about 40% of the heath
budget is still obtained from the external development sources.
Dr. Mingmar Gyaljen Sherpa, Mahanirdehak, Health Service Department
He says that the vision for health must be prepared by the Government and this must be made on
the bases of needs, no matter how long or short period it takes to accomplish the target, but
should not be a low grade vision.
*The Government has invested for the development of heath sector but it has not been able to
take proper care on its infrastructural improvement. As a result of this, the access to private
health services is increasing as stated by the experts involved in this sector.
Prof. Dr. Devendra Prasad Shrestha, Researcher, PRAD Nepal
He argues that if about 10% of the total budget is allocated to health sector, the problem of
resource crisis could be addressed. He also states that to understand the standard percentage of
budget that is to be allocated to the health sector from total budget in any country can be
observed from the WHO’s Macro Economic Modeling Study Policy. He agrees that there is a
growing trend of taking health services from the private sector by the public compared to the
services provided by the Government.
Dr. Mingmar Gyaljen Sherpa, Director General, Health Service Department
He says that the people have the concept of thinking that public hospitals do not provide good
services to public. Furthermore, he adds that there is a lot improvement in public health services
compared to the health services provided by public health institutions 10 years ago.
He views that the government has responsibility of providing good health services to the public all
over the country whereas the private hospitals may think of only few hospitals so that they can
provide better health services compared to the Government health service providers.
*Although the investment on health sector in recent years has been increasing significantly, the
per capita health expenditure of the country is still less. Therefore, it is necessary to increase
budget in this sector. Also, it is necessary for the government to consider the conclusions that
are revealed from the studies and researches related to health sector and address them in the
budget.
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