Pura Neguma – Inter Divisional Rural and Small Township Development Initiative for North and East Provinces

Pura Neguma – Inter Divisional Rural and Small Township Development Initiative for North and East Provinces

Pura Neguma is a pilot project in the Local Government Sector of the Eastern Province in which the needs identified by citizen themselves. It is the fact that involvement of people in identifying their needs will increase project effectiveness and efficiency. It aims to improve the delivery of local infrastructure services by Local Authorities in the Northern and Eastern Provinces of Sri Lanka in an accountable and responsive manner. There are a set of outcome indicators developed to measure the progress of achievement of the objective.

Project Background

This programme of North East Local Services Improvement Project under ‘Gama Neguma’ – Rural and Small Township Development initiative will support Sri Lanka’s development strategy with particular focus on growth by improving local services delivery mechanisms in the Northern and Eastern Provinces.  Specifically, the project will strengthen the capacity of Local Authorities (LAs) in the Northern and Eastern Provinces to deliver services to their citizens in an efficient and accountable manner.  Puraneguma is a multi sectorial intervention, designed to improve service delivery at local level.  It will also strengthen accountability at the local level by promoting participatory and demand driven investment planning, budgeting, execution and maintenance of infrastructure at the local level.

The project was conceived in 2008 and the following activities has been carried out following that

•      Project  Coordinating Unit was appointed in June 2009

•      First World Bank Mission held in October 2009

•      US $ 1.0 million was received in November 2009

•      Second World Bank Mission in Feb 2010

•      Negotiated with World Bank on 5^th April 2010

•      Received the Bank’s approval on 12^th May 2010

•      Third World Bank  mission held  in August 2010

•      Received the cabinet approval in September 2010

•      Signed financial agreement with World Bank on 8^th November 2010.

The project has been designed to provide opportunity to decentralize implementation responsibilities to the provincial and divisional levels. The National Project Coordinating Unit (PCU) based in the Ministry of Economic Development plays coordination and facilitation role, allowing the Provincial Commissioner of Local Government to manage the project, as the Provincial Project Director while the Regional Assistant Commissioner of Local Government based in the district acts as the Assistant Project Director, with a supervising role of the activities implemented by the LA.

Project period                                              -           3 years (Jan.2011 -2013)

Project Finance

Total project cost                                        –          US$ 86 million.

·         World Bank (As a soft loan)                    –          US$ 50 million.

·         GOSL                                                        –          US$ 34 million.

·         Community contribution                         –         US$ 2 million.

Project Component

·         Fiscal transfers                                        -           US$ 76 million.

·         Institutionalizing accountabilities          -           US$ 2 million.

·         Building capacities                                   -           US$ 4 million.

·         Policy development and evaluation        -           US$ 1 million.

·         Project management                               -          US$ 3 million.

Total                                                       -           US$ 86 million.

Major Components:                        

·         Component 1: Infrastructure Service Delivery

·         Component 2: Institutionalizing Accountabilities

·         Component 3: Building Capacities

·         Component 4: Assessments and Evaluation

·         Component 5: Project Management

Qualifying Criteria for Local Authorities

According to the criteria of World Bank, the Local Authorities should be fulfilled the following requirement,

1.      Having a sound financial management system

·         Completion of annual financial accounts          

·         Receipt of an audit opinion from Auditor General

·         Board of survey done

2.      Having a sound staff arrangement

·         Presence of adequately trained staff      

·         No. of technical staff in place

·         No. of other qualified staff

3. Having a LA development plan prepared through community consultations

4.      Having a citizen participation process that includes;

1. Citizen representatives in LA committees;

·   Finance and policy making

·   Housing and community development

·   Technical service

·   Environment and common amenities

2. Evidence of consultation with LA citizen groups for participatory planning, budgeting and monitoring
3. Community grievance redressing mechanism in place;  (Complaint box, Complaint log book)

Based on the criteria, all 45 Local Authorities in the Eastern Province have qualified to receive grant under Puraneguma.  

Fund Allocation.

For receiving of fund, LAs should fulfill the all eligibility criteria of NELSIP .  Each LAs will eligible to receive additional funds based on the weighted formula. The formula consists of three parameters;

}  Population of LA area ( 30 marks)

}  Extent of Land of LA area (30 marks)

}  No. of displaced people in LA area (40 marks)

Total Allocation of this project is 4681.70 million Rs. 

District	No. of LAs	Total Allocation for 3 years	2011 (30%) - Rs. in Mn	2012 (45%)  Rs. in Mn	2013 (25%) Rs. in Mn
Ampara	20	1,990.72	597.22	895.82	497.68
Batticaloa	12	1,284.93	385.48	578.22	321.23
Trincomalee	13	1,406.05	421.82	632.72	351.51
Total	45	4,681.70	1,404.51	2,106.77	1,170.43

Project Management/Institutional Arrangement

Puraneguma Project comes under the purview of MED and is expected to be implemented in collaboration with MLGPC. As such, the MLGPC co-chairs the National Steering Committee for Puraneguma together with MED. The Department of Local Government is the Project Management Unit and the Offices of the Regional Assistant Commissioner of Local Government are District Project Management Units

Provincial level Institutional arrangements

The chief secretary and the secretary to the Provincial Ministry of Local Government (PMLG) will take the responsibility of overall supervision of the project management activities carried out by the Commissioner of Local Government (CLG) in each province. The Assistant Commissioners of Local Government (ACLGs) in each district will take the responsibility of supervising the project implementation activities carried out by LAs. Further, the existing Provincial Planning & Coordinating Committee (PPCC) headed by the Provincial Chief Secretary and represented by the District Secretaries, will review overall project progress and coordinate activities among the different government agencies at the provincial and district level. The CLG will report to the Chief Secretary/Secretary-PMLG at the provincial level and to the Project Coordinator at PCU at the national level.

Regional level (district) institutional arrangements

The regional ACLGs at district level will undertake the responsibility of supervising, supporting and monitoring project activities within their jurisdictions while the LAs will be responsible for implementing the project at the local level. Within each LA, the CC will act as the community level mechanism, to carry out development works and implement project activities at the GND/village level. The ACLGs will be in charge of district level project implementation/supervision and will report to their respective CLGs.

Divisional level Institutional arrangements

The LAs under the project will take full responsibility for implementing the project at divisional level. The LAs have a council of elected members and an administrative structure. For purposes of advising the LA Council on development related activities, the standing committees and a LA Advisory Committee will be formed.

Local Authorities (PS, UC and MC)

Pradeshiya Sabhas, Urban Councils and Municipal councils (MCs) function at divisional level and are formed for the purpose of providing local services to citizens ensuring citizens participation in local level development activities.

Composition of the sections of LA in ideal situation is;

Planning and monitoring Section:                  LG Assistant, Technical officer, Programme Assistants

Financial Management Section:                      Finance Assistant, Management Assistant

Administration Section :                                  Chief Management Assistant, Clerks

Revenue Section :                                              Revenue Inspector, Revenue Supervisor,

                                                                  Clerks

Public Utility Section:                                      Programme Assistants

However, considering the human resources available at LAs, it has been decided that a five-member team is adequate to launch the Puraneguma Project effectively.

The team would consist of;

LA Secretary

Technical officer 1

Local Govt. Asst./Prog. Asst./ Development officer 1

Programme Assistant (Com. Development) 1 

Programme Assistant (Finance) 1 and

Programme Assistant (Procurement) 1

Main Areas of Infrastructure developments of Local Authorities

}  Access roads

            (a) Tarring

            (b) Concreting

}  Markets, Parks &Small Township

}  Sewerage & Drainage

}  Waste disposal system

}  Rural water  supply schemes & Common dug wells

}  Rural electrification

Achievement and Progress up to 2012 June 14

v  PMU and District Project Management Units were established in December 2010

v  Established Project Secretariat under Secretary to PMLG with FAC – Financial Analysis Cell

v  First time, existing staff are involved to implement project without fulltime project staff.

Ø  Having a sound staff arrangement

§  Presence of adequately trained staff - Fulfilled required staff at LA level (for project implementation) – Particularly all LAs  have Technical Officers   , Minimum 05 staff are assigned to  each LA

§  Civil Engineers are appointed – Each District has 01 Engineer

v  Specialist for Procurement, Institutional Development, (June 2011) Social Protection (August 2011) and IEC are appointed (June 2011)

v  All 45 LAs are eligible to receive fund for 2011

v  Strengthen Procurement Units and provided adequate knowledge on Procurement activities –  adapting procurement procedure according to the WB guideline

v  Prepared 45 Local Authority Participatory Development Plan (LAPDP) through community consultations -  this is the 1st project in the Local Government sector in which the needs identified by citizen themselves.

v  Built up capacities of staff through trainings and workshops (Trainings - preparation of sub  project proposals, financial, procurement activities and environmental matters,  Public Grievances Mechanism

v  Grant ( Rs. Mn 1338.92 ) received from Treasury and disbursed to 45 LAs and expenditure is 490.56 Rs. in Mn

v  Proper coordination between LAs and Audit Dept. is built up

I.                   Infrastructure Service Delivery

Present status of SPPs Approved  on 2011 - as at 14.06.2012
District	Total Approved Works	Under BD Preparation	Under TEC & PC	Agreement Signed	Work Started	Works in Progress			Completed Works	Expenditure (Mn)	Remarks
						25%	50%	75%
Trincomalee	45	--	01	43	09	12	04	06	12	97.709	01 – Agreement to be signed with NWSB (Kantale PS)
Batticaloa	33	--	03	28	01	00	02	06	19	175.06	02 – Drainage Master Plan ( Batticaloa MC, Kattankudy UC)
Ampara	64	02	-	61	09	07	03	12	30	217.687	01 – Drainage Master Plan ( Addalaichchenai PS)
Total	142	02	04	132	19	19	09	24	61	490.456	04

Present status of SPPs Approved  on 2012 - as at 14.06.2012
District	Total Approved Works	Under BD Preparation	Tender Called	Under TEC & PC	Agreement Signed	Contract Awarded	In Progress		Remarks
							0-50%	51-75%
Trincomalee	38	05	--	08		14	11	--
Batticaloa	47	09	--	07		--	24	04	01 – Master Pl. for MC Batticaloa, 01 - Master Pl-UC Eravur
Ampara	68	01		21	--	06	33	06	01- Master Plan Kalmunai
Total	153	15		36	--	21	68	10	03

II. Institutional Accountability.

1.      Monitoring Mechanism

·         Regular meetings are conducted in three levels:

Local Authority Level (LA)

District Level (DPMU)

Provincial Level (PMU) – chaired by Hon. Chief Minister, EP

·         Internal audit has been formed at LAs level. Training has been scheduled to conduct in July, 2012.

·         Action is being taken to procure quality control equipment to establish quality control labs in each DPMU.

2.      LAGRM and SAC

•         All LAs are implementing LAGRM and maintain proper ledger and reporting format for complaint analysis system. (Monthly reports, Tally Sheets and Quarterly reports )

•         LAGRM system still to be improved in some LAs – action has been taken to improve this system with the help of GIZ

•         Secretaries and PROs (nearly 100) are trained to handle GRM and all LAs have PROs

•         Established Front Desk System in LAs and have citizen charter

•         Guidelines to SAC have been prepared with the specific contents and training was given to all CDOs and TOs in all three districts based on this. Detailed guideline is being prepared by the consultant of Asia Foundation.

•         Preliminary discussions were held with all CDOs in Trincomalee and Batticaloa Districts  and practical inputs received during the discussion to be incorporated with the detailed guidelines

•         Basic trainings on environmental safeguard have been given to TOs and CDOs and training programme for SAC is  included in the short term      training plan

3.      LAPDP

• Agreement has entered on 2012.01.23 with CIRM to prepare LAPDP for 2013 – 2016 and to provide trainings.
• LAs are requested to prepare LAPDP according to instruction given by PMU

• Details of selected LAs to prepare model LAPDP

            Trincomalee   - Morawewa, Verugal

            Batticaloa        - Vaharai

            Amparai          - Addalaichchenai

§  All training except participatory budget have been completed by CIRM and Model LAPDPs 65% Completed.

§  Preparation of VDPs are on the process

§  Remaining LAPDPs will be prepared by LAs with supervision of the respective R/AGLGs before 31.08.2012

§  Training was conducted to process monitoring and relevant formats were issued to R/ACLGs

§  Process monitoring is being  carried out by PMU and DPMU  according to the planned schedule

III.             Capacity Building

1.      Developing and Strengthening Systems and Processes:

•         System developed to follow proper approval procedure –

2.      Purchased Language Interpretation System

3.      Issued IT equipment and leveling instrument to LAs

4.      Training Programmes to LAs:

Prepared short tern training plan and conducting training accordingly with the help of Specialist and MDTD - Basic trainings on Technical Matters, Project Management, Finance, Environmental and Social Safeguards and Procurement are provided.

47 specific training are planned and conducted  21  Nos. of training . Proposed 07 training to be conducted in June and action is on the process

Provided capacity development opportunities  through the foreign training ( India)  to DPD, SPS and Engineer, Chairman of Kinniya UC

5.      Information, Education and Communication

·         Awareness programme is given through workshop and training - 14 Nos. of awareness programme  for officers and political parties were conducted

·         News are published in the local newspapers and EPC website (Thinakaran, and local newspapers such as Irukkiram, Sudaroli etc.)

·         News letters are ready to issue.

·         Magazine are in preparatory level.

·         New website for the Department of Local Government is in the progress.

·         Street dramas are being conducted selected divisions

Challenges

1. Shortage of materials (Gravels, Metals)
2. Price escalation
3. Difficulties to get community participation
4. Existing and limited staff
5. Audit Queries
6. Drainage Master Plan