PUBLIC EXPENDITURES 17
Figure 3.4 Irrigation real expenditure per capita in Nepal, 1999–2003 Rupees per capita
98—313
313—519 519—892 892—1,272 1,272—2,520 2,520—6,231
Source: Authors’ calculations from public expenditures data (World Bank 2007). Note:
Amounts are in 1995 rupees.
noted. This distribution of irrigation expenditures reflects the reality that the greatest irrigation potential lies mostly in the flat lands of the Terai and not in the difficult terrains of the hills and mountains where, at best, there is a potential only for much smaller and fewer irrigation schemes. The last type of public expenditure that we investigate is rural roads. Rural roads are essential to reducing travel time to markets and reducing transport costs, which facilitates market integration. Figure 3.5 provides a snapshot of cumulative per capita public expenditures on roads in Nepal between 1999 and 2003. In general, road construction has been extremely limited in the hill and mountain regions of Nepal due to physical constraints of road construction. Figure 3.5 reflects this by illustrating that larger expen- ditures were more concentrated in the southern parts of the country and also in the central hills. As is the case of agricultural expenditures, the largest amount of expenditure on roads was incurred in the Kathmandu Valley, espe- cially in Kathmandu District itself, with the exceptions of Dolpa and Manang districts in the mountains.
These trends in public expenditures have been coupled with changes in access to government services. Tables 3.3, 3.4, and 3.5 illustrate changes in access to public infrastructure and extension services between 1995–96 and 2003–04. Access time to facilities generally improved, even across the expenditure quintiles, as shown in Table 3.3. One notable exception is the disparity in improvements in the second through the fourth expenditure quintiles relative to the large increases in both the lowest and the highest
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