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Kathmandu Saturday June 23, 2001 Ashadh 09, 2058.
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IT dev plan at snail’s
pace
Post Report
KATHMANDU, June 22 - The development of
information technology (IT) industry, the fastest growing industry by nature, has been
moving at a snail’s pace, thanks to unhurried approach of the government.
The government, a couple of years ago, had
planned to construct a physical IT Park at Banepa, some 26 kilometres east of Kathmandu in
Kavrepalanchwok district, with a view to develop infrastructure for the development of IT.
But there has been very little progress in the
work compared to the time the government initiated the process of constructing the Park.
One of the major causes of slow pace of IT development is the failure of the government to
realize the importance of such industry on time.
Another reason behind it is that the government
could not understand the potential of the sector and appropriated very meagre amount of
budget in the annual fiscal budget over the years.
The paltry amount compounded with a considerable
delay in releasing it has further marred the acceleration of IT growth. The government in
the budget announcement for the current fiscal year earmarked Rs 40 million for the
development of IT to be spent under the Ministry of Science and Technology.
But the amount was released four months after
the budget announcement. Officials at the Ministry of science and Technology complain of
not being able to utilize even the small amount set aside for various programs due to the
delay in releasing the budget.
"As the amount was released four months
after budget presentation, we could not make plans accordingly and some of the amount is
going to be frozen, " said an official preferring anonymity.
The Ministry by the end of third week of June
has spent only Rs 19.3 million out of 40 million rupees set aside for IT development.
Almost all the amount has been spent in acquiring land for the proposed IT Park.
Minister for Science and Technology Surendra
Prasad Chaudhary said that the process of acquiring 47 ropanies of land for the IT Park is
in the final stage, after which the total area will be 227 ropanies.
"The process of acquiring private land is
very complicated so it took more time than we had expected in the beginning. Anyway, we
are in the final stage of land acquisition and will expedite construction process from the
coming fiscal year", said Minister Chaudhary clarifying the cause of delay in IT Park
construction.
The ministry has requested the Finance Ministry
to allocate more than Rs 200 million in the forthcoming budget in order to speed up the
construction works.
However, the Finance Minister repeatedly
explains about the resource constraint of the government and asks the concerned ministries
to manage with limited budget. Amid, soaring security expenses and pension amount, among
others, the ministry is likely to appropriate smaller budgets than expected. If it
happens, it will be another blow to the construction of the IT Park.
Therefore, the government should be grave while
preparing the coming budget and allocate money accordingly if it really wants to boost the
IT industry. And the Ministry of Science and Technology should also be serious in
implementing its programs in time.
The freezing of a meagre budget set aside for IT
programs is obviously very sad and the Ministry cannot afford getting its budget frozen.
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