ISLAMABAD, Nov 17: The local government (LG) system introduced by Pervez Musharraf regime in 2001 failed to deliver as majority of the people are still not satisfied with the governance system, service delivery and reforms.

This was revealed in a survey conducted by USAID-funded District That Work (DTW) on ‘The Local Government System, Citizens’ Perceptions and Preferences’ here on Monday. The findings of the survey were revealed at a national dissemination workshop.

The workshop was attended by Secretary-General Commonwealth Local Government Forum, UK, Carl Wright; Anne Aarnes, mission director, USAID Pakistan; Dr Kevin Curnow, chief of party DTW Project, besides Punjab local government and community development minister Dost Mohammed Khosa.

The survey has found that majority of the respondents have identified problems with location, infrastructure, equipment and absence of professional staff and needed inputs in health and education sectors in the local government system. There is widespread corruption in the system at town and tehsil level while Punjab minister for local government Dost Mohammad Khosa disclosed that the audit report had detected irregularities to the tune of Rs52 billion in Punjab only.

Despite a lapse of seven years since the system was enacted, majority of the people in rural areas, particularly in Balochistan and NWFP, have shown least understanding of the government structures and functions and have been critical of issues of accountability, access and responsiveness.

The survey indicates that people have refrained from approaching basic health units (BHUs) and have preferred to avail private medical facilities as half of the respondents said medicines were not available at the units while one-quarter claimed that the BHUs did not have doctors.

The school-going children are not using educational institutions set up under the LG system as majority of the respondents say that the ‘school is too far’ or that the quality of education was not adequate.

With respect to household services in urban areas, only 59 per cent people had connections to government water supplies while only 17 per cent said their neighbourhoods had covered drains. Similarly only 49 per cent had some kind of garbage disposal/collection service.

Over 77 per cent respondents in rural and 69 per cent in urban areas say that they have no individual water connection because of unavailability of water supply lines while 59 per cent say that there is no sufficient quantity of water in their homes.

As many as 25 per cent respondents across the country acknowledge water-borne diseases due to the quality of water they use in their houses. Similarly 66 per cent people say that they dispose of their garbage in vacant lots due to no municipal service.

The survey results reinforce conclusions of other studies such as those of Transparency International (TI) about the prevalence of corruption in local governments. The survey results clearly show that a large proportion of population is not satisfied with the local government service.

The findings would be presented to provincial and national policymakers in which the government has been advised to make some drastic reforms in local government system and make it more easy and responsive for the citizens.