Water and Sanitation Program for South Asia1 Pakistan's Decentralization: Implications and...

Water and Sanitation

Program for South Asia 1

Pakistan's Decentralization: Implications and Challenges for Delivering Water and Sanitation

Services

Raja Rehan Arshad



Big Bang Decentralization

Local Government Ordinance promulgated on August 14, 2001 Devolution of political and fiscal authority to

elected Local Governments Decentralization of administrative authority



Pre-Devolution Context

Four Provinces Sind Balochistan North-West Frontier Province Punjab

Districts Sub-divisions for deconcentrated arms of the

provincial government administration and technical line departments

W&S service delivery being a provincial responsibility



Major Impediments

Overlap of jurisdictional assignment More than one technical department responsible

for W&S Public Health Engineering Department, and Local

Government and Rural Development Department in rural areas

W&S authorities and/or municipalities in urban areas

Centrally planned system of service delivery Absence of accountability between the

providers and the client



Major Impediments (Cont…)

Lack of capacity and appropriate institutional framework for sectoral planning; preparation of financially viable sector investments; and management of demand responsive investments

Absence of strategic vision – in particular the implications of urban and rural transformation for the W&S sector.



W&S Service Delivery Situation

W&S systems investments without consideration of O&M arrangements Centrally financed, operated and managed In the last decade, move towards community

ownership, and operation and maintenance, but old systems still a major liability

Both in rural and urban, public sector water utilities heavily subsidized by the government

In rural areas, cost recovery less than 10 percent In urban areas, cost recovery between 10 to 40

percent



Local Government Ordinance (LGO) 2001

Creation of approximately 100 district governments and district councils (average population of a district is one million)

Creation of approximately 350 tehsil municipal administrations and tehsil councils (average population of a tehsil is 500,000)

Creation of approximately 7,500 union administrations and union councils (population ranges from 18,000 to 28,000)



LGO 2001 (Cont …)

Direct elections have been held only at the Union level

The Deputy Mayor of the Union Council is a member of the Tehsil Council

The Mayor of the Union Council is a member of the District Council

All the union councilors in a tehsil and district elect the Deputy Mayor and Mayor for the respective tehsil and district The Mayor and Deputy Mayor have to contest on

a Joint Ticket (one vote for both)



Salient Features of the LGO 2K1

Complete fiscal authority to each level However during transition, the province is maintaining some

decision making with regards to appointment of staff, setting of tariffs and tax structures, etc.

Rural – Urban divide has been removed Mega cities (million plus) have become City Districts

and the remaining districts are referred to as Common Districts comprising urban and rural areas

District, Tehsil, and Union are not subordinate to one another

Principle of Subdiarity is the main theme Tax base for each level



Salient Features (Cont …)

The new law has: Decentralized service delivery providers

and assets (approximately 30 provincial departments ranging from social services such as health and education to agriculture and soil conservation)

Removed jurisdictional and functional overlap of institutions




Introduced a new system of transparency and accountability

Empowered local governments to enter into a range of institutional arrangements – from community owned systems to contracting out and contracting in of services

In order to ensure flexibility district governments can transfer functions to the lower levels




The lower levels can assume functions provided they finance them themselves and get appropriate clearances

To strengthen participation two institutions have been created: Village/Neighbourhood Councils, which will be

elected Citizen Community Boards, which will have to be

registered with the district government



COMMON DISTRICT ZILA COUNCIL-

DISTRICT GOVERNMENT

TEHSIL COUNCIL-TEHSIL MUNIPAL ADMINISTRATION

UNION COUNCIL-UNION ADMINISTRATION

VILLAGE COUNCIL/NEIGHBOURHOOD COUNCIL

CITY DISTRICT ZILA COUNCIL-CITY

DISTRICT GOVERNMENT

TOWN COUNCIL-TOWN MUNICIPAL ADMINISTRATION

UNION COUNCIL-UNION ADMINISTRATION

VILLAGE COUNCIL/NEIGHBOURHOOD COUNCIL

Different Tiers



Key Outcomes

Rationalization of agencies responsible for service delivery For W&S, PHED, LGRDD, Physical Planning and

Housing and Urban Local Councils have been merged at the Tehsil level

Removal of the rural-urban divide – creating space to achieving financial and management efficiencies through the creation of regional municipal management units, i.e., the Tehsil Municipal Administration



Key Outcomes (Cont …)

Introduction of efficiencies through encouragement of institutional and organizational robustness, in particular the introduction of: Subsidiarity Co-Production Public-Private Partnership Regional management of services including

regional utilities, management of multi-village W&S systems, etc.




Focusing on direct lines of accountability with a focus on information transparency and localized decision making

Participation of citizens in decision making and service delivery through the Citizen Community Boards (CCB’s), through which 25 % of the development budget has to be spent




Provincial Finance Commissions have been established for intergovernmental transfers Criteria includes:

Population Poverty Backwardness Resources Incentive (Punjab only)



Extension of Local Government

Village Councils/Neighbourhood Coucils An elected body representing the interests

of a particular village or neighbourhood Citizen Community Boards (CCB’s)

Non-profit organizations or stakeholder associations working on development related and social welfare activities



Tehsil Municipal Administration (TMA)

Responsible for Municipal Services in rural and urban areas Other levels of local government have no

responsibility and/or role for municipal services except in City Districts, where the District (Metro) level is responsible for macro municipal services mainly (bulk water supply, etc.). Distribution and solid waste is still the responsibility of TMA and/or Union Administration

Average population of a tehsil is 500,000



TMA (Cont …)

TMA has the flexibility to balance decentralized service delivery against economies of scale Can have multi-village management Single village management

TMA is responsible for three key components of municipal management: Sectoral planning Capital works O&M

TEHSIL MUNICIPAL OFFICER

Tehsil Council Secretariat

Audit

General Estab./Admin.

Finance

AccountsBudgetAnnual3 year rollingCost accountingRevenueVigilance(Detection and prevention of revenue leakages and losses) Survey(Revenue base – current and potential)

Regulation

Facilities, Markets and EnterprisesLicensesRegularisation of Tenure of Katchi AbadisLand including Rights of Way, Drains (Temporary tehbazari and encroachments)

Infrastructure and Services

Water Supply, Sewerage/DrainageSanitation(Solid Waste)Roads, Streets and Street LightingFire FightingParks and Open Spaces Traffic Engineering

Planning and Coordination

Spatial (Physical Planning)Land Use Planning (Land sub-division, zoning, land use)Development Facilitation/ControlBuilding Facilitation/Control Housing, Site Development, Katchi Abadi Amelioration Plans Coordination and liaison with neighbouring tehsils and unions/VC

CO at TMA HQ

CO at non-TMA

HQ

CO at non- TMA HQ

CO at non- TMA HQ

CO at non- TMA HQ

CO at non- TMA HQ

O&M Centres Working Under Chief Officer

TEHSIL MUNICIPAL ADMINISTRATIONORGANIZATION



Nature of the TMA

Body Corporate Consist of a Tehsil Nazim, Tehsil Municipal

Officer, Tehsil Officers, Chief Officers from the offices entrusted to the TMA

No distinction between a rural and an urban area in the law

Can further transfer responsibility to the lower tiers along with transfer of resources

Entire Tehsil space is a Rated Area for Property Tax purpose



Nature of the TMA (Cont …)

Can contract out and contract in services

Upper tiers can transfer responsibility to the tehsil along with transfer of resources TMA continues to be responsible for

regulating and monitoring service delivery Cannot borrow from the capital market

However, upper levels can extend advances or give loans



Functions of the TMA

The TMA is exclusively responsible, in the Common District, for planning, capital investments and operation and maintenance of: Spatial Planning (land use and zoning) Development Facilitation and Control (site

development and building control) Municipal Services (water, sanitation, solid

waste, roads, streets, street lights, graveyards, fire fighting, traffic engineering, abattoirs, parks and open spaces)



Composition

All present Town Committees, Municipal Committees and Municipal Corporations

Provincial Government Departments which will be decentralised to the TMA: Local Govt. and Rural Development

Department Public Health Engineering Department Housing and Physical Planning (apart from

the nucleus for the District)



Subsidiarity

Provision has been made in the law for management of service delivery at the lowest appropriate level Based on mutual consent, a function can

be transferred by the TMA to Union Administration and/or Village Councils, along with transfer of corresponding resources



Private Sector Participation

Provision has been made in the law for TMA to enter into contracts with the private sector as long as the former retains the responsibility of regulation and monitoring



Authority to Restructure

TMA has the authority to restructure the sub-offices to meet the requirements of a particular tehsil If a TMA transfers O&M responsibility to

Village Councils and Union Councils, it will focus on regulatory and monitoring aspects

A primarily urban TMA might want to strengthen its urban centers



Multi-Jurisdictional Management

The law allows for Multi-Jurisdictional management of services by Joint Committees of Councils to achieve economies of scale and scope. Bodies such as Joint TMA Committees Intra TMA bodies such as Joint Union

Committees (across more than one tehsil)



Accountability

The Tehsil Council and the Monitoring Committees formed by the Council are responsible for oversight over the TMA

The Union Council can also form committees to monitor the TMA’s work

Village/Neighbourhood Councils and CCB’s can also monitor TMA’s work



Defining the Resource Envelope There is a complete assignment of fiscal

authority TMA’s main tax base (Own Source Envelope)

includes: Property Tax Transfer of Property Tax Licence Fee Rental of Municipal Property, etc.

Intergovernmental transfers from the provincial divisible pool are made as a single line transfer

Property Tax is collected by the district on behalf of the TMA



Cont …

Complete fiscal authority allows the TMA to plan both for the long and short term, and to ensure that a hard budget constraint creates the pressure for linking service coverage targets with appropriate service levels



Financial Management

The law procedures and bye-laws require the TMA’s to establish cost centers. The costing of services, by sectors and areas, will ensure that the TMA knows the nature and amount of subsidy for each service and will be better able to make choices regarding the level and extent of services



Demand Responsiveness

Co-production requirements (CCB’s to contribute at least 20 % cash towards the capital cost) will ensure cost and management sharing of services



Situation After 2 Years

Major capacity constraints Some local governments moving ahead

Innovating new procedures and systems Increasing OSR many-folds Improving service delivery

Most local governments are still trying to find their way around



Situation After 2 Years (Cont …)

Provincial governments are not allowing local governments to hire/fire

City Districts are feeling the pressure more as there is still some baggage of the old system which they are having to carry, e.g., Water and Sanitation Authorities, etc.



Challenges

How to develop appropriate capacity at the Local Government levels? What incentive does the upper level have to build capacity of the local governments?

How to align external assisted projects/programs to the new decentralized framework?

How to minimize recentralization? How to discourage parallel financing

mechanisms and formula



Challenges (Cont …)

Does the market respond to the lack of capacity challenge by creating private sector capacity?

Does the new institutional structure allow for cross-sectoral linkages between health, education and W&S?

Does decentralization bring about increased public private partnership? What are the factors that need to be considered?



Challenges (Cont …)

How can key sector reforms be facilitated like corporatization of utilities, introduction of regional utilities, interface between local governments and communities/SSIPs?

What incentive does the upper level have to regulate service delivery?

How far will political pressures interfere with demand based service provision in a decentralized framework?

Water and Sanitation Program for South Asia1 Pakistan's Decentralization: Implications and...

Documents

Transcript of Water and Sanitation Program for South Asia1 Pakistan's Decentralization: Implications and...