Seventeen Neighbourhood Democratic Councils (NDCs) have received $4 Million subventions from Central Government to finance their activities while 19 others have gotten smaller sums under historic local government legislation.
The sums were provided under the Fiscal Transfers Act which sets out criteria through which resources are to be allocated to local authorities. The application of the Act is seen as a key part of revitalising the local government system following the March 18 elections – the first since 1994.
In this year’s budget, $401 million has been approved for subventions to municipalities and NDCs. During the budget debate, Minister Ronald Bulkan had told the House that