The New Nation - Internet Edition

BSS, Dhaka

The local government ministry is releasing Taka 210 crore for 2,257 selected unions from next January across the country as expanded block grant (EBG) under its Local Government Support Project (LGSP), a campaign to promote participatory governance at grassroots.

"Since the introduction of the project two years ago, most of the UPs (Union parishad) saw their revenue earnings three to four times higher then the previous years expediting their development engaging the villagers in the planning and implementation process," Local Government ministry joint secretary Swapan Kumar Sarker, who oversees the project told BSS.

More importantly, he said, the LGSP to UPs, selected under certain criteria based on the performance of their elected bodies, has generated a sense of competitiveness among the elected body at the lowest tier of the local government body to engage the people at the grassroots in the UP activities and spend their funds with utmost transparency.

Jointly funded by the government and the World Bank, the Taka 1,421 crore project was introduced in 2006 after pilot experiments at several areas while it already covered nearly half of the country's 4,498 UPs and expected to cover all the UPs by 2011, when the project period will be ended.

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), UNCDF, European Union (EU), Swiss Development Corporation (SDC) and DANIDA are also supporting the project financing LGSP's "learning and innovation" component as grants.

The officials said, the local government ministry so far sanctioned Taka 210 crore for 2,257 gradually selected UPs across the country as expanded block grant (EBG) under the LGSP during the 2008-2009 fiscal.Besides, Government has also allocated Taka 15 crore as supplementary block grant (SBG), in addition to EBG, to 388 union parisads under the learning and innovation component of the project to strengthen UPs capacity to ensure effective and efficient service delivery in an accountable manner.

The initial list of union parishads were finalised based on the UPs performance of the previous year. The officials said, the project incorporate about 20 to 25 percent of the country's total 4,498 UPs annually to under LGSP with an aim to cover all the UPs by 2011, the five-year project period would be ended.

A total of Taka 98 crore and 17 lakh had been released as EBG to 1,060 union parishad during financial year 2007-08. An amount of Taka more than five crore and 32 lakh had also been released to 80 union parishad as SBG under LGSP-LIC.The officials said, the UPs have implemented different schemes like development of rural roads, culverts, bridges, embankments, cannels, ferry ghats, slow ease gate, water and sewerage facilities, schools and health centers, library and market management.

"But, the people now themselves take account what resources they have and what the union parishad is doing with what limitations," a LGSP official said referring to his experience at the field level while evaluating the project success.

He said, ordinary housewives and marginal farmers join the budget meetings alongside the local elite and affluent businessmen of the unions in the annual budget meetings as the project not only helped make UPs accountable or transparent.