Govt preparing to allocate electricity royalty to dists

The government is to allocate Rs 500 million of electricity royalty to the District Development Committees (DDCs). Although Rs 1.27 billion is needed for this purpose, only Rs 500 million is to be distributed to the DDCs as the Ministry of Finance has allocated this much amount in the budget for the current fiscal year, it is learnt. The Ministry of Finance has already provided the amount to be distributed to the Ministry of Energy but the distribution has been delayed as the revenue allocation committee of the Ministry of Federal Affairs and Local Development has not yet convened its meeting for this purpose. Although the amount is inadequate, it would be distributed in equal proportion to the DDCs concerned, an official at the Department of Electricity Development said. Information Officer at the Department, Gokarna Raj Pantha, said the department was ready for the distribution of the electricity royalty. Before this, the Department had distributed Rs 390 million received in electricity royalty for the first time in the fiscal year 2066/67 BS. However, the electricity royalty for fiscal year 2067/68 and the fiscal year 2068/69 remains to be distributed. The Ministry of Energy has made preparations for allocating the royalty following complaints by the Association of the District Development Committees of Nepal. Joint Secretary at the Ministry of Federal Affairs and Local Development, Dinesh Thapaliya, said that although the distribution of royalty has been halted for making some technical preparations, appropriate decision would be made within a few days. As per the provision, representatives from finance, energy, and federal affairs and local development ministries shall have the participation on the royalty sharing committee. Of the total amount received from hydropower project, fifty per cent will be deposited in revenue account and 38 per cent of the remaining will be allocated to the five development regions which later will be distributed to all DDCs in equal proportion. But, those districts where projects are located will get the remaining 12 per cent of the royalty. According to the Department, the government is collecting Rs. 1.15 billion power royalty in a year. But this year, it is expected to exceed Rs. 1.50 billion as the number of hydro power projects went up in this current fiscal. A hydropower project with one megawatt of capacity should pay royalty of Rs. 500,000 to Rs. 700,000 annually to the government. They also pay revenue to the government on the basis of power supply. In 2068 BS, 66 districts out of 75 had received power royalty from the government. But, this year all the 75 districts are getting this, said Information Officer Pantha. Last year, the Makwanpur district became the first in view of receiving power royalty. It had got over Rs. 32 million. The Kulekhani I and II projects are located in this district. Similarly, Syangja received 10.5 million, Gorkha Rs. 20.4 million and Lamjung Rs. 10.2 million as electricity royalty. Similarly, Rs. 15.3 million was allocated to Dolkha, Rs. 10.5 million to Ramechhap while Nuwakot and Dhadhing drew Rs. 10.86 million and Rs. 10.5 million, respectively. Taplejung was in the lowest position in terms of bagging power royalty at Rs. 130,000.  Likewise, Rukum, Rolpa, Salyan, Dang, Dailekh, Jajarkot, Bardiya, Surkhet, Mugu, Humla, Jumla and Dolpa received Rs. 100,000 each. Power royalty will be distributed as per the budget limitation, Information Officer Pantha said, adding the Ministry of Energy is planning to ask for an allocation of full power royalty in the upcoming budget.