PESHAWAR, June 4: The NWFP government will transfer Rs29.412 billion to the local bodies in the next fiscal year (2007-08), which is almost 14 per cent higher than the corresponding figure for the current budget.
The Provincial Finance Commission (PFC) finalised fiscal transfers for the next budget on Saturday, indicating that the district governments would get 56.7 per cent of the total revenue forming the provincial divisible pool. The remaining 44.3 per cent would go to the provincial government.
Sources told Dawn that an amount of Rs23.971 billion would be transferred to the districts as the salary component against the figure of Rs21.463 billion in the current budget.
As per the strategy, 8 per cent of the raise has been given for the salary bill of the districts, while the finance department will retain the remaining amount that will be released on needs basis to the districts.
Likewise, the non-salary heads of district accounts would get a slight increase, mainly because of the raise in the repair and maintenance budget for the schools managed by the district governments, the sources said.
In the next fiscal year an amount of Rs2.952 billion will be released as non-salary expenditure against Rs2.149 billion of the current budget. Under this component, a portion of the funds has been reserved for medicines for the basic health units, while the allocation for emergency medicines has been increased from Rs90 million to Rs100 million.
The PFC, the sources said, had also increased the development budget of the local bodies from Rs963 million to Rs1.204 billion for the next fiscal year. The development budget of the districts remained stagnant for the past five years, which now has been increased by 25 per cent.
Fiscal transfers on account of octroi and zilla tax grants to the local bodies will also be increased, as an amount of Rs1.285 billion will be released against Rs1.071 billion under the current budget.
This increase would benefit all the tehsil and municipal administrations and four cantonment boards located within the jurisdiction of the province, the sources said.
The PFC, in addition to the increase in allocation for the local bodies in the next budget, has recommended that revenue generated through health and education outlets at the district level will be spent in the same sectors.
Likewise, a criterion will be devised for providing additional financial support to the weak TMAs. The PFC had also authorised the TMAs to lease out their property to increase their income with effect from the next financial year, the sources added.
