On Tuesday afternoon, Kathmandu Metropolitan City officials, including Mayor Balendra Shah, decided to hold a meeting of the resource estimation and budget ceiling determination committee at 11 am on Wednesday.

Officials were also instructed to send a letter to committee members to attend the meeting. But the members received no such letter, as the decision was ‘leaked to the media’.

“We did not send an invitation letter to committee members for the meeting, after the decision was leaked to the news media,” said Dhurba Kumar Kafle, assistant spokesperson at the city office. “The meeting will be held, but I can’t say exactly when.”

KMC’s spokesperson, Nabin Manandhar, also said he is unaware when the next meeting would be held as nothing has been informed to him.

Due to the lack of meetings of the committee, staffers and elected representatives of the city office are confused about the budget ceiling and priorities, despite the approaching deadline to unveil the budget. The metropolis’s budget should be presented by June 29.

The annual budget for the next fiscal year 2025-26 will be prepared as per the committee’s decision and ceiling, according to officials.

“Meetings of the executive committee and municipal assembly will be called for budget presentation,” Kafle said. “We all know that the deadline to present the budget is approaching. Let’s hope the meeting will be held at the earliest.”

Officials say that the executive committee and the municipal assembly meeting will be followed by the meeting of resource estimation and budget ceiling determination committee, where the budget will be presented.

It has been nearly six months since Mayor Shah last convened an executive meeting.

The last meeting was held on December 29. As per the Local Government Operation Act 2017, the executive meeting should be held at least once every month.

Ongoing conflict between Mayor Shah, Deputy Mayor Sunita Dangol, and the ward chairpersons has affected both the municipal assembly and executive meetings. And with the monthly executive meetings long overdue, new contracts have remained stalled, payments for city pride projects are on hold, and new agreements for contract-based employees are pending. Numerous proposals from wards and departments also remain in limbo.

Section 17, Subsection 1 of the Local Government Operation Act 2074 states that “the executive meeting shall be held at least once a month.” Also, the municipal assembly meeting becomes especially critical during the budget-making process.

Mayor Shah had sent Chief Administrative Officer Saroj Guragain on leave on December 23, citing financial irregularities related to the approval of a construction plan for Kathmandu Tower at the Old Bus Park. However, the federal government did not replace Guragain with another official as Shah expected, and instead reinstated him.

The city office had deployed municipal police to stop Guragain from entering the office, but their attempts failed as Deputy Mayor Dangol, other ward chiefs, and staff close to the ruling parties—the Nepali Congress and the CPN-UML—assisted him in resuming office.

Ward chairs the Post spoke to said that Mayor Shah has been miffed by their April 3 move to support the return of the suspended chief administrative officer.

Earlier, 41 out of 42 executive members, including Deputy Mayor Dangol, had urged Mayor Shah to convene an urgent meeting of the city’s municipal executive.

Multiple ward chiefs and officials the Post talked to said that they are in confusion about the budget size and new programmes.

“We should not forget our responsibility towards our people,” said Ishwor Man Dongol, chair of the metropolis’s ward 15. “I hope that differences between the elected representatives will not affect development works and service delivery.”

KMC officials say that they have been planning to complete last year’s projects, which could not be executed due to disputes between the mayor and the federal government.