KATHMANDU, Feb. 23 (Xinhua) -- The Nepalese government has decided to limit the number of central ministries to 17 in the new federal set-up, a government minister said here on Friday.
A Cabinet meeting held in Kathmandu decided to downsize the number of ministries to comply with the constitutional provision that states that the number of ministries should not exceed 25 at the central level.
There are 30 ministries at the Nepalese central administration at present.
"The Cabinet has decided to have just 17 ministries at the central level administration to comply with the constitutional provision," Environment Minister Lalbabu Pandit told Xinhua on Friday, adding that the government will push several measures to reform the bureaucracy in coming days.
The Nepalese government's decision to downsize the number of ministries at the central level has come nearly three months after the new administrative set-up came into force after holding the landmark Federal and Provincial Assembly elections in November and December across the country.
The government was advised by the several expert panels in the past to reduce the number of ministries at the central level in order to make the administrative structure effective, and to avoid duplication of works, imbalanced work division and a lack of coordination among the government agencies.
