The Opposition Party, Druk Phuensum Tshogpa, says discontinuing drafting the Five-Year-Plan will lead to highly random and politicised planning and resource allocation. The party issued a news release asking the government to continue with the practice of preparing a draft Five-Year-Plan.
The news releases from the DPT states that the party learned that the present government is adamant on discontinuing the time-tested development planning tradition of preparing a draft Five-Year-Plan.
The Opposition Leader, Dorji Wangdi, says the decision will disrupt the socio-economic development. “There is a process and guideline to allocating the resources and budget called as ‘Resource allocation formula’. Without a draft plan, governance would violate these processes. There must be a resource allocation plan included in the draft plan. To allocate the resources, we have to depend on foreign loans and grants as well. To assess and allocate all of these, we need to have a draft plan.”
He added a draft Five-Year Plan provides continuity from one Plan to another. It forms an important basis for an elected government to build its five-year development plans and programmes in line with the national vision and goals. “Without the draft plan, economic-development ideas, and overall governance would be disrupted. National policies and plans would be affected. It wouldn’t be possible to implement developmental plans fairly. Balanced regional development also wouldn’t happen. It would also undermine the responsibilities and power of the local governments and the civil service.”
With just two years left for the current plan to end, the Opposition wants the government to immediately advise the Gross National Happiness Commission Secretariat to initiate the process of drafting the 13th Five-Year-Plan. The Prime Minister was not available for comments.
Tshering Dendup
Edited by Sonam Wangdi
