ENB budget district-based

EAST New Britain yesterday handed down its provincial budget of K110,846,700 which is structured to support direct resource allocation (35 %) to districts and local level governments as the institutions to drive service delivery.
The budget is an increase from K102,164,600 in 2011 and districts and LLGs will help to drive service delivery consistent with respective district and LLG five-year development plans.
Governor Leo Dion said the budget was the first full year of implementation of the provincial Strategic Development Plan 2011-21 and would lay the foundation for its 10-year implementation to transform the province’s response to the first 10 years of Vision 2050.
It is the first full year of implementation of the provincial corporate plan 2011-13 that will seek effective and efficient ways of administering service delivery and improve revenue generation.
He said the budget was further supported by other sources of funding such as the district services improvement programme (DSIP) and district support grant (DSG). All programmes funded under these would be coordinated by the provincial administration for accountability and consistent with provincial development aspirations.
He said it was in line with the recent direction for the Office of the Rural Development (ORD) to manage public funds under decentralisation of powers vested with respective provincial administrators as chief accountants.
Dion said revenue enhancement would be a major initiative of the budget and the province would collect all goods and services tax internally under the government’s power-sharing agreements.
He said the challenge to enhance provincial revenue collection measures were vital.