PESHAWAR, Feb 29: The next provincial government has to take several crucial decisions to carry forward a World Bank-sponsored multi-sectoral reform agenda left over by the previous MMA government.

The steps envisaged under the Provincial Reform Programme (PRP-II), which are likely to make things difficult for the coming set-up, are mainly related to revenue mobilisation.

The second phase of the reform agenda, designed by the MMA government, had been shared with the World Bank, which had extended multi-million dollars credit line for its implementation. Negotiations for a soft loan of over $100 million under the Development Policy Credit (DPC-III) due by next financial year were in final stages, officials told Dawn.

The provincial government, they said, was required to take certain pending decisions for fulfilling some conditions that would enable it to secure the credit facility from the World Bank.

The officials said adjustment of land-based agriculture income tax (AIT) rates to income-based was one of the crucial decisions the next government had to take.The previous provincial government had made commitments that steps would be taken for exploring methods of rationalising the provincial tax structure and improving tax administration.

Under this component, AIT has to be levied on agriculture income, which is currently collected at flat rates on the basis of overall size of the land through the revenue department.

The former MMA government, the officials said, had tried a couple of times to replace the existing practice, but it could not do so because of some hindrances.

The main hurdle, they added, was that most of growers had no proper system of accounting, which was essential if the tax was to be collected on the basis of overall income from the land.

“Replacement of the existing system, which is too ineffective, will increase overall financial liabilities of growers that will ultimately lead to public outcry,” said an official in the revenue department.

According to him, elected governments often avoided decisions which could lead to agitation, as was the case with the former MMA government.

Another important decision awaiting the next government was settlement of land records in Chitral and Lower Dir.

The MMA government had faced resistance even from the treasury benches when it had tried to expedite work on the project in recent years.

According to officials, PC-I has been prepared for the settlement operation in Lower Dir with an estimated cost of Rs30 million and 70 staff positions. The settlement period is eight years.

The approval of the project was pending before the next chief minister, the officials said.

Likewise, the next provincial government has to push things in a number of other areas. These includes computerisation of land record, extending computerisation of Urban Immovable Property Tax (UIPT) record based on property survey in selected districts and establishing Motor Vehicle Tax facilitation centres in Kohat, Bannu, Dera Ismail Khan and Swat.