A report of the Finance Commission tabled in Parliament on Thursday revealed more than 75% of the money allocated to provincial councils was used for payment of personal emoluments such a salaries and wages, overtime and holiday payments and other allowances.
Assessment of provincial expenditure in respect of personal emoluments for 2009 represents an increase of Rs3,360 million amounting to approximately four per cent over provisions made for this purpose in 2008, the report said.
It has been assessed this year’s personal emolument payments will cost Rs 87,252 million to maintain a collative cadre of 312,307 in the eight provincial councils.
The provincial councils had collectively requested over Rs116 billion for recurrent expenditure for 2009 of which around Rs 88.9 billion or 77 per cent would go towards personal emoluments while the rest went towards other recurrent expenditure.The Western Provincial Council (WPC) having the largest number of employees --52,068-- will spend more than Rs 16,667 million or 67% of the recurrent budgeted money for the WPC as payment for personal emoluments.
The Central Province with 41,525 employees spent 83% of its recurrent expenditure for this purpose while personal emoluments in the Uva and Sabaragamuwa provinces amounted to 81% of the recurrent expenditure.
In 2008 of the total recurrent expenditure of 103.2 billion, 77% was on account of personal emoluments.
Despite the heavy expenditure to maintain the cadre of the PCs, 22,185 new employees were added to the cadre of the Councils since 2008.
The provincial cadre which stood at 278,496 in 2007 is estimated to grow to 290,122 this year.
Provincial councils have also sought billions of rupees for transfer to local authorities in each province for the payment of allowances to members and reimbursement of salaries of staff of the local autarchies.
The eight provinces collectively comprising 330 local government institutions, includes 18 Municipal Councils, 42 Urban Councils and 270 Pradeshiya Sabhas need Rs 7.8 billionn to pay for the allowances of 4,064 members of these bodies as well as staff salaries.
The Commission said the current approach to control provincial cadres is ad hoc and undermines responsibility and accountability of the councils in the efficient provision of services and has recommended the establishment of a baseline for staffing norms and update of cadres periodically on the basis of a survey of staff needs.
Meanwhile, revenue collected by PCs in 2008 had increased by 21% to Rs. 31.4 billion, but as a percentage of GDP it was at 0.7 %, the same level as the previous two years.
It falls short of the government’s target of making revenue from PCs one per cent of GDP.
The Finance Commission has recommended provinces be allowed to retain a share of the revenue for capital expenditure and thereby create an incentive for further improvement in revenue collection.
The Commission report also stressed the need for more consultations between the central government and the provincial councils to resolve the “nagging administrative constraints that have got the provincial system bogged down in a system of unnecessary controls that undermines responsibility and accountability. |
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