Kathmandu, May 21: Kathmandu Metropolitan City has organized an orientation program for department and division heads focusing on the budget cycle and local government performance evaluation system.

The program, organized by the Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation Unit, featured presentations from former Chief Secretary Dr. Somlal Subedi on local-level budgeting and planning interpretation, and Deputy Secretary of the Ministry of Youth, Labor and Employment Janak Raj Sharma on the local government performance evaluation system.

Officials stated that the metropolitan city has achieved full progress on indicators set by the system, though improvements are still needed in organizing and updating documentation and records.

Chief Administrative Officer Saroj Guragai emphasized that departments should ensure their work is properly reflected in indicators and evaluations. The orientation also focused on strengthening internal coordination, communication and documentation practices to improve evaluation outcomes.

Ward Chairperson Hiralal Tandukar noted that evaluating Kathmandu Metropolitan City using the same indicators applied to geographically remote local levels was impractical and called for more realistic standards.

During the program, former Chief Secretary Subedi suggested that local governments should reduce dependency on external resources and focus on effectively implementing budgets, policies and programs. Deputy Secretary Sharma also stressed the need to revise service delivery standards to improve local governance performance.