Kathmandu: It has been found that more than 6 billion rupees in royalties were collected from natural resources in Nepal in a single year.
According to the annual report of the National Natural Resources and Finance Commission, total royalties in the fiscal year 2080/81 rose to over 6.3 billion rupees from 4.5 billion rupees in the previous year.
“Electricity contributed the most to royalty collections, accounting for 54.63% of the total. Forests contributed 22.60%, of which 10.77% came from protected areas and 11.83% from national forests. According to data from the Commission, 12.22% of royalties were collected from mountaineering activities, while mining and minerals contributed 10.55%.”
In Nepal, royalties from mountaineering, electricity, forestry, and mining and minerals have been deposited into a federal divisible fund and distributed. However, despite the Commission’s recommendation, royalties received from telecommunication services through radio frequencies have not been deposited into this fund, the Commission stated.
In the last fiscal year, Bagmati Province received the highest amount of royalties from natural resources at 568.369 million rupees, while Karnali Province received the lowest at 249.91 million rupees.
When analyzing resource-based royalties received by provincial governments, Koshi Province obtained the highest share from mountaineering at 47.29%. Madhesh Province received 100% of royalties from forests. Bagmati and Gandaki Provinces received 71.02% and 82.78% of royalties from electricity, respectively.
Similarly, Lumbini Province received 51.81% of royalties from mines and minerals, while Karnali and Sudurpaschim Provinces received 94.17% and 51.33% of royalties from the forest sector, respectively.
When analyzing royalties distributed among local governments in the last fiscal year, mountaineering royalties reached 108 local levels, electricity royalties reached 148 local levels, forest royalties reached 746 local levels, and mining and mineral royalties reached 48 local levels. Five local levels did not receive royalties from any sector.
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