Rs 20 billion allocated for the grants in Fiscal Year 2018/19
KATHMANDU, Jan 2: The federal government has extended the deadline for provincial and local units to apply for complementary and special grants.
Though the second and third tiers of the government were told to submit their proposals for two separate types of grants to the central government by mid-December last year, they can now apply for the grants by mid-January.
The cabinet meeting held on Monday decided to extend the deadline by a month amid complaints from provincial and local governments that they were given short time to submit proposal for the grants.
Provinces, local units told to apply for special grants by mid-...
The federal government has allocated Rs 20 billion for conditional grants and special grants for provinces and local units.
The special grant is meant for execution of activities of special nature as well as to for projects to deliver basic services like education, health and drinking water, and to achieve balanced development of inter-state or inter-local level. This grant has also an objective to uplift or develop the class or community facing economic, social or any other form of discrimination.
Similarly, the complementary grant is to implement infrastructure development projects.
According to the working procedure for special grant, the federal government will provide the special grant to a provincial government or local unit for running special education program in areas where there literacy rate is low, basic health care program in areas where child mortality or maternal mortality rate is high, drinking water project for rural or economically backward groups, and to implement programs to ensure food security, among other special projects.
On the other hand, provinces and local units can apply for complementary grants for projects and programs like local, rural and agricultural roads; waterways, irrigation projects using innovative technology, electricity and transmission line project in areas deprived of electricity, cold storage projects, and model settlement project to implement joint settlement in rural areas, among others.
To get the grants, provincial and local governments are required to submit their proposals in the prescribed format by including their respective working procedures.
A five-member committee led by Secretary of the Ministry of Finance will review the proposals for both grants and select the eligible projects for the grants.
According to the working procedure, projects and programs with total cost below Rs 100 million for province and Rs 5 million for local level will not be eligible for special grant. Toward complementary grant, the lower limit for projects and programs has been fixed at Rs 100 million for province and Rs 10 million for local units.
