PM Dahal addresses the nation

Kathmandu, Dec 26: Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ has addressed the nation on the occasion of the completion of a year since the formation of the government under his leadership.

He addressed the nation from the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers based in Singha Durbar.

In the course of the address, Prime Minister Dahal shared details of the key initiatives, progress and achievements made so far in the areas of promoting good governance and social justice as well as the economic development of the country in the past year since he assumed office.

Present on the occasion were cabinet members, secretaries of different ministries and high-level government officials.

The Chairperson of CPN (Maoist Centre), Dahal was elected the Prime Minister on December 25 last year.

The incumbent government has carried out its performance placing good governance, economic prosperity and social justice in top priority.

Prime Minister Dahal argued that the traditional way of budget making has failed to allocate budget to the priority projects and make true estimates of expenditure, leading to a direct impact on capital expenditure. “I plan to move ahead in a new style by changing the system of policy making and budget preparation,” he added.

Prachanda also shared that the principles and priorities of the budget for the upcoming fiscal year would be made public in February and the feedback from the people’s representatives and general public would be taken on it.

He stated that policy, structural and legal measures would be taken with the target to obtain a double-digit economic growth rate.

The Prime Minister was of the view that the government is making the best possible efforts despite the journey to development and prosperity so far was not satisfactory.

In his address, the Prime Minister said that he would not make a claim about the complete success of his government but announced that he would change the government’s working style with this concern and self-review.

Similarly, the Prime Minister made the announcement that he would not attend any of the public events except for some prescheduled and compulsory ones and added that his focus would be on new policies and programmes, budget preparation, and resolving the issues in the areas of development and good governance. “This will be a departure to change the government’s working style. I am making changes to the structure of the Office of the Prime Minister this week,” Dahal stated.

Sharing that the production-based subsidy system will be implemented in the key foods and vegetables, PM Dahal pledged to make due payment to the milk farmers by the end of coming April. “But, such reform will not be sufficient for a leap forward in the agro sector”, the PM admitted. He further informed that 401,000 metric tons of chemical fertilizers were ensured for the farmers on time.

On the occasion, he shared that an irrigation facility was provided to an additional 21,168 hectares of land through surface and underground projects in the period.

As many as 296 dip tube well and 3,244 shallow tube well irrigation systems were installed, the PM claimed.

The government is prepared to declare (2081-91) as the decade of investment in agriculture to spur investment in the agriculture sector from governments, private, development partners and cooperatives for the transformation of the agro sector in Nepal.

“Construction of integrated agriculture and livestock centers with 30 labs will be completed by the mid-July 2024”, he said, adding, “Measures will be introduced to reduce the effects of rising import and climate change”.

He expressed the commitment to initiate a canal development system for agricultural productivity.