PESHAWAR, April 25: The NWFP government claimed to have passed on benefits of surplus receipts from the federal government to the district governments, according to the annual report of the Provincial Finance Commission for 2004-05 and 2005-06.

The report, containing detailed information about PFC awards, was published by the Finance Department. It would soon be presented before the provincial assembly and 24 district councils, an official told this correspondent on Wednesday.

According to the budget estimate for 2004-05, the province was supposed to receive Rs45.046 billion from the federal government but its receipts showed a slight increase at Rs45.339 billion by the end of the fiscal year.

Of the total, Rs18.169 billion were deducted as provincial obligatory expenditure, while Rs27.17 billion were distributed between the province and districts with a 40:60 per cent ratio, respectively.

The budget estimates showed that all districts were supposed to receive Rs16.302 billion, but by the end of the fiscal year, every district received 11.9 per cent more than its share with total transfers standing at Rs17.903 billion.

Similarly, the province had projected receipts amounting to Rs46.626 billion during the last fiscal year, but it received Rs51.344 billion, effectively enabling it to expand the size of the provincial pool.

Every district was supposed to receive a share of Rs 19.648 billion during the last financial year, while the actual transfers stood at Rs22.009 billion during the same period.

As per 2004-05 PFC award, horizontal distribution of non-salary and development funds was made on a formula that gives 50 per cent weightage to population and 25 per cent each to backwardness and lag in infrastructure.

This formula, however, had been revised during the last fiscal year by giving 60 per cent weightage to population and 20 per cent each to the remaining two factors.

Apart from giving details about the implementation of PFC awards in the last two financial years, the report also highlights some of the issues and challenges affecting district governments’ performance.

The districts, the report maintained, were excessively dependent upon provincial transfers and had a narrow tax base from which they were required to generate revenues.

The report pointed out that very limited progress in utilisation of funds allocated for Citizen Community Boards (CCBs) had been made in most districts, mainly because of the non-constitution of CCBs and lack of clarity in understanding the rules for prioritising schemes.

The report said a meager amount had been utilised in fiscal year 2004-05, while information pertaining to the year 2005-06 was still awaited.