May 10, 2002	Friday	Safar 26, 1423

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ISLAMABAD, May 9: The National Reconstruction Bureau asked the provincial finance secretaries on Thursday to submit their proposals with regard to fiscal devolution after consultation with their respective governors within a week.

The NRB at a meeting here at the Chief Executive Secretariat asked the provincial finance secretaries to consult their respective governors and submit their final proposals within next one week, a source said.

The bureau has been engaged in an exercise to evolve a formula of devolution of financial powers to the newly-elected district governments for almost a year now but, so far, has failed, owing to reservation of provincial governments to give up their financial power in favour of district governments.

“We have been given a deadline of one week to submit our proposals after consulting our governors,” a provincial finance secretary, who did not want to be identified, told Dawn.

Without giving details, he admitted that there had been some serious differences among the NRB, finance ministry and provinces over the devolution of fiscal powers to the district governments. He said they had reached a formula which would be based on the principles of fiscal need, fiscal generation and backwardness, etc.

Another source disclosed that the difference between the NRB and provincial governments was over the expenditures, which would be required for implementation of projects.

The NRB, which had borrowed the idea of third tier of government and presented it to the nation under the name of dece-tralisation of powers, or district government, had to add final chapter of financial decentralisation to the whole plan before the next financial year.