KATHMANDU, July 27: The Industrial Promotion Division at the Ministry of Industry (MoI), which is entrusted to look after the entire industrial sector, has been reeling under severe fund crunch.
The government had allocated just Rs 4.2 million for the division in fiscal year 2011/12.
“That´s a very meager allocation,” a high-level official at the industry ministry told Republica.
The division, which is working to breathe a new life into sick industrial units, received just Rs 884,000 in the partial budget for 2012/13. “The division even couldn´t spend meager allocation of Rs 4.2 million in 2011/12. It spent just Rs 2.6 million - 63 percent of the total allocation during the year,” Bishnu Dhakal, under secretary at the MoI, said.
The division, which is working to finalize the draft of Industrial Enterprises Act (IEA), developing an action-plan to effectively implement Industrial Policy 2010 and preparing the draft of Technology Development Fund Regulation, does not have institutional capacity to perform these tasks.
“Leave alone developing infrastructures and facilitating industries, we don´t have budget for even small activities like carrying out study and holding consultation meetings,” said Dhakal.
The government´s indifference to the industrial sector is reflected in the country´s industrial growth. Growth rate of country´s manufacturing sector has been declining since 2002/03.
The division even doesn´t have budget to conduct technical study to finalize the list of sick industries. “We have sought the assistance of the finance ministry to conduct technical study,” Dhakal said, adding, “We have yet to hear from the ministry.”
Meanwhile, foreign ministry officials claim that the division is so incapacitated that it has failed to design new programs.
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