Local government budget proposals sans a people’s follow-up

• Chamara Sampath

The budget is one of the main issues that most people pay attention to during the November-December season. At the national level, the budget document is adopted by the Parliament regarding the implementation of activities for the following year in the country. The budget for the following year is also adopted by the provincial councils and local government institutions.

The budgets at Provincial Councils will not be presented as they are not functioning at the moment. However, the budgets for the upcoming year will be adopted by 341 local government bodies across the island. But, less people are aware of these budget presentations. 

When a budget is presented by any government institution, it follows three main processes; budgeting, implementation and follow-up. Although the first two processes take place, there is a very little follow-up on these budgets. This is a common scenario even when the national budget presented in the parliament.

This article sheds light on how Right to Information Act was used to find out how budget proposals submitted by the Kuliyapitiya Municipal Council were implemented for the year 2022. The information obtained reveals that this local government body has failed to implement all the budget proposals as presented in the budget.

2022 budget proposals

As per the budget proposals presented by the Kuliyapitiya Municipal Council for the year 2022, a provision was made for the development of social and infrastructure facilities in the area. Accordingly, they have identified three areas of development and Rs.760 million have been allocated for development activities such as road maintenance and development, new construction and repair, community development, and social protection programs. The city council had proposed 77 development proposals for the year 2022.

Implemented proposals

Out of the proposals presented under road maintenance and development, the municipal council has been able to implement only seven proposals spending Rs.3.6 million. In addition, a sum of Rs.690 million was spent on the “Construction of the new public market and multi-purpose building of Kuliyapitiya Municipal Council which is the largest project carried out by the Municipal Council this year. Even though the city council was hoping to open the building this year, it has been postponed until next year as they have been unable to complete the construction up until now. 

It is important that the municipal council also allocated funds to achieve sustainable development goals. However, they have failed to implement all the proposals that were presented for that purpose.

Reasons for failure of implementation

The Municipal Council is bound to fulfill all proposals presented by a budget, and they have presented various reasons regarding the inability to fulfill the proposals. Accordingly, the Municipal Council states that the Local Government Commissioner has notified the temporary suspension of the development projects carried out by the council funds, and accordingly the implementation of the projects had to be suspended temporarily. They also informed that the Governor of North Western Province had issued a letter under the subject “Controlling Government Expenditure” to all Municipal Councils and Pradeshiya Sabhas stating that the approval of the Local Government Commissioner and the Governor is required for the construction and repair works related to budgetary allocations.

Different opinions

When contacted Mr. A.M.L. Adhikari, chairman of Kuliapitiya Municipal Council, said that the municipal council aimed at implementing the budget proposals as much as possible. He further stated that all the implemented projects were done with transparency, and public money was used very carefully. The chairman mentioned that due to the economic crisis and political instability as well as the pandemic, they failed to complete many projects.

When asked about the opinion of the opposition members of the municipal council in this regard, they mentioned that the budget was passed unanimously and the projects could not be completed due to the economic crisis. They also pointed out that the proposals that could not be fulfilled in the previous year were completed this year. 

However, when inquired from people living in the municipal council area regarding the implementation of the budget, it was brought to out notice that they were not properly informed about it. Sadly, some people were not even aware that the municipal council presents a budget annually.

Accomplishing unfulfilled proposals

After adopting the budget proposals, these institutions are bound to implement them properly for the taxpayers. But after the end of the period related to the budget, since no one follows up on it, those public representative bodies are not motivated to implement all proposals. That is why all three processes— budgeting, implementation, and follow-up of adopting a budget are important. A public participation system is needed to streamline the financial utilization process in the Parliament as well as in the local government institutions, and a people’s follow-up in this regard will provide more opportunities for these projects to be done more efficiently and transparently.