By Alfred Sasako

THE nation’s nine premiers have descended on Honiara, demanding assurance from the national government that the 2018 budget would be passed on time.

At the same time they have expressed concern that the national government continues to slash their allocations, which they say is painting a gloomy outlook for service delivery in the provinces in 2018.

“We have been told that our service grants have been halved,” one Premier told Island Sun yesterday.

In the case of Malaita Province, its service grants have reportedly been reduced to just $7million for this year. Last year, it received $14 million.

“Our PCDF grants have also been slashed by as much as 90 percent,” the Premier said.

“We have been told that all provincial governments will receive just a million dollars each in the PCDF grants this year, if the national budget is passed on time, that is,” the Premier said.

“Last year the nine provincial governments shared $38 million in PCDF grants. This year it’s been reduced to just $1 million each. We hope that is wrong because what can you do with that kind of money?

“It is as good as not giving us the money at all in the first place. Our health services, education and other social sector programs will suffer.

“We are staring disaster in the face,” the Premier said.

The Premiers were yesterday meeting the Prime Minister, Ricky Houenipwela, but no official announcement was made on the outcome of their meeting.

The Premiers are also concerned that the delay in passing the national budget is pushing the nation closer to the brink of a constitutional crisis. The national government has until March 31 – only two and half weeks away – to avoid plunging the nation into a constitutional crisis.

“As Provinces, we also wait on the national budget to be passed before we debate our own budget. Everything we do is based on the sort of allocations we receive from the national government. Until we know what we get from the national budget, we cannot move.

“This year we have been pushed closer and closer to a financial crisis, which would bring everything to a standstill,” the Premier said.

BY GEORGE MANFORD

AUKI

THE 2018 national budget will see a marked decrease in the provincial budget.

This decrease is set to impact on provincial government’s development plans and service delivery this year.

For Malaita province, the total budget required for 2018 is $12million, but according to the proposed budget from the national government the amount has been reduced to $10million.

Information sighted this paper said while national government has decreased funds for the provinces, it has boosted its rural constituency development fund (RCDF).

However, it is said that the province’s version of the RCDF, the provincial community development fund (PCDF) contributes more to development in the communities than its national counterpart.

“RCDF somehow did not provide any good impacts in terms of developments as seen in our constituencies but only the projects under the PCDF are implemented in our wards,” the information says.

People are questioning government why it is raising its RCDF when there is only 10 months left.

Concerns also have it that a lot of provincial projects earmarked for this year will not see the light of day, due to the national government’s decision.

BY SAMIE WAIKORI

Auki

PROVINCIAL premiers have surfaced their disagreement on the national government’s initiative to reduce the provincial fund.

This is their reaction to the government’s purported decision to drop $2million from the $12million allocated for the provinces this year.

A reliable source told this paper that currently all the premiers are in Honiara to discuss a way forward with the national government on the matter.

The source said premiers are expected to bring the needs of the provinces to the table when they meet with the national government.

This proposed move by the national government spells trouble for the provincial governments, many saying that their service delivery will be adversely affected, including activities under provincial administrations.

The source said lots of projects have been earmarked by the provincial governments for implementation this year.

“Some of them are continue projects from last year whilst others maybe standby ones to be implemented.

“But they all depend on this fund to be implemented.

“So if the fund reduces as what now said, some of the projects will incomplete or eliminated since no fund to facilitate them,” the source said.