PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has evolved a formula for distribution of Rs13.1 billion development funds among the 3,501 village and neighbourhood councils in the province on the basis of population.

According to the formula set by the finance and planning & development departments, the minimum amount to be awarded to the village and neighbourhood council for development was fixed at Rs2 million and the maximum at Rs7.5 million keeping in view the population size, according to official documents.

The distribution of funds among the districts and tehsils/towns would be decided by the Provincial Finance Commission for which Rs17.17 billion had been shown in the budget 2015-16.

The village and neighbourhood councils having up to 2,000 population would be given Rs2 million, while Rs7.5 million would be given to councils having around 12,000 population.

Minimum development funds to be given to council fixed at Rs2 million and maximum at Rs7.5 million

Of Rs13.1 billion, Rs80 million would be distributed among 38 councils with 2,000 population, according to the documents.

The village and neighbourhood councils having population between 2,000 and 3,000 would get Rs 2.5 million each under the set formula. The number of such councils across the province is 610 and a total of Rs1.53 billion would be distributed among them.

Similarly, the councils with 3,000-4,000 population would get Rs3 million each and the number of such councils is 716. Rs2.15 billion would be distributed among them to launch development works.

The councils having population of 4,000-5,000 would have a share of Rs3.5 million each in the allocated funds. In this regard, a total of Rs2.1 billion would be distributed among 599 such councils. Each council catering to population between 5,000 and 6,000 would get Rs4 million, and Rs2.02 billion would be distributed among 412 such councils.

According to the set formula, the councils with 6,000-7,000 population would be given Rs4.5 million each while a total of Rs1.85 billion has been allocated for 412 such village and neighbourhood councils.

The provincial government has identified 279 councils having population between 7,000 and 8,000 and each would get Rs5 million. Keeping in view the size of population, Rs1.4 billion would be given to them in funds earmarked in the fiscal budget of the provincial government.

The 179 councils with over 8,000 population have a total share of Rs0.98 billion as each of them would be paid Rs5.5 million. Rs0.75 billion would be distributed among 125 village and neighbourhood councils, as each such council would get Rs6 million for having 9,000-10,000 population.

Similarly, each council of 10,000-11,000 population would get Rs6.5 million as the government has allocated Rs0.2 billion for the total of 30 such councils. Seven councils of 11,000 to 12,000 population have to be given Rs7 million each.

Only two councils of the village and neighbourhood councils having population of over 12,000 would be given Rs7.5 million each.

The funds allocation for the councils has been made according to the criteria mentioned in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Local Government Act, 2013. Under Section 53 of the law, the development grant for the village and neighbourhood councils shall be determined on the basis of population.

The Provincial Finance Commission would decide the distribution of development fund for the districts and tehsils/towns. The provincial government has allocated over Rs42 billion in the fiscal budget 2015-16 for development programmes of the local governments. Of the total amount, Rs11.82 billion has been allocated for the ongoing devolved projects, while Rs30.27 billion is allocated for the three-tier local government system, including Rs13.1 billion for village and neighbourhood councils, Rs8.587 billion for tehsils/towns and Rs8.58 billion for the districts.

Published in Dawn, October 11th, 2015

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