Councils in distress due to reduced budget

Lhaviyani Naifaru Council has said today that the government has still not delivered about one million rufiyaa, and that the council is currently in a debt of over MVR 1 million.

In a statement made public by the council today, they said that the budget allocated for this year is unacceptable and that the government had failed to dispense nearly one million rufiyaa out of the total amount due to the council at the beginning of this year. They said that the council is in debt of more than a million rufiyaa to various parties because of the delay in receiving these funds.

The council said that they only received 6 months’ funds from the 2012 budget, and that the amount granted to them in the 2013 budget will only sustain their administrative expenses for only 6 months.

Naifaru council said that while putting together proposed budget for 2013, the government had asked them to keep all finances, except salaries, under a ceiling 3 million rufiyaa. They also said they were not able to budget for some of the public services the council had wanted to provide. Naifaru council is responsible for a population of more than 5000 inhabitants.

The council said that they received a very small amount due to their forced 3 million rufiyaa ceiling. The maintenance of buildings, roads, harbor lights and electricity alone cost more than 1 million rufiyaa per year, they said. “Therefore, the council has an amount of MVR 300,000 to take care of other council expenses and to provide other necessary public services this year,” said the statement by Naifaru council.

Finance Ministry has not been available for a word regarding this issue. Some councils have said that the budget allowed to them this year would only be enough to open and close their offices daily.

Noonu Miladhoo Council President Hassan Ghassan, also facing budget difficulties, said that the council was awarded MVR 1.6 million, including salary for their staff this year. He said that they will only be able to sustain the council for a period of 3 months with the budget amount.

“The places that we have under our care, how can we keep them open with such a budget? We don’t even think we can sustain the preschool this year,” said Ghassan.

Finance Minister Abdulla Jihad has said that this year’s budget of MVR 15.3 billion might not be enough and that a supplementary budget might have to be introduced sometime during the year.