Digital database and e-governance as main priority in new Periodic Plan

According to the National Planning Commission, the 16th Five-Year Periodic Plan (2081/82-2085/86), which is currently in the drafting stage, will prioritize digital databases and e-governance.

The Vice Chairman of the Commission, Dr. Meen Bahadur Shrestha, said that while suggestions are being collected for making the 16th periodic plan, maximum use of technology in service delivery and e-governance will be the first priority and a new plan will be formulated. He also said that efforts will be made to make it implementable when making a new periodical plan.

“Based on the experience so far, we will find out where there are problems in the implementation of our plans and solve those problems,” he said. We will make a periodic plan focusing on other topics.’

According to the commission, the concept paper of the 16th plan is being finalized by the first week of July. The Commission is preparing to finalize and publish the 16th periodic plan, which will be implemented from July 2081, within the next month of January.

The Commission has stated that the periodical plan will be prepared keeping in mind the constitution of Nepal, national and regional policies, 15th plan and its review, strategy prepared for upgrading from underdeveloped country (LDC graduation strategy), achievement of sustainable development goals, medium-term expenditure structure.

Currently, the Planning Commission is collecting suggestions for preparing the concept paper of the 16th Periodic Plan. The Commission has been discussing with subject matter experts from various fields and taking suggestions since last week.

The Commission discussed with the mediapersons, who have taken suggestions from the former Vice Chairman of the Planning Commission, former members, economists, incumbents and former secretaries of the Government of Nepal and various subject experts.

The Planning Commission has been formulating far-reaching development policies and plans. As suggestions are being collected for creating a new periodical plan, many questions are seen mainly on the effectiveness and effective implementation of such plans.

It seems that there are problems such as failure in the analysis and resource assessment of the government’s periodical plan economy, the set goals not being met, the government’s annual policy program and budget not being made according to the periodical plan, the centralized plan not being able to address the needs of the state and local levels.

There are problems in determining the priority areas while making periodical plans, failure of periodical plans to increase employment and internal productivity, failure to identify areas of comparative advantage for economic development, etc.

Issues such as politically oriented plans being prioritized over periodical plans, lack of inter-agency coordination, and ineffectiveness of monitoring and evaluation have also been pointed out.

Shrestha, the vice-chairman of the commission, claimed that although not all the goals of the previous periodical plans had been met, most of the goals had been met. However, he also says that the 15th plan currently being implemented is ambitious.

According to Shrestha, the goals of the 15th plan have not been met due to the impact of the Covid epidemic, Russia’s attack on Ukraine and the impact on the world economy.

He also said that since the periodical plans made by the Commission are more academic than practical, the Commission has taken seriously the issue of their implementation and achieving results.

Shrestha said that maximum efforts will be made to make the new periodical plan implementable. He mentioned that the Monitoring and Evaluation Act is under consideration in the Parliament to make the work of the commission effective and the procedures related to the project bank and project classification are being prepared.

The commission said that while making periodic plans, it will coordinate with all the three levels and take suggestions from all concerned agencies.

In the annual policy and program of the next financial year, it is mentioned that the planning commission will be restructured, and the commission will implement it and focus more on monitoring and evaluation work. Rasas

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