Democratically-elected local authorities have to come up with ways to generate the revenue needed to fulfil their constitutional responsibilities and ensure their autonomy, Minister of Communities Ronald Bulkan says.
“Leadership is the determining factor for the effectiveness of local organs in the discharge of their task of community development,” Bulkan said during his address at the opening of the one-day National Conference of Local Democratic Organs, held yesterday at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre.
Bulkan said the presence of central government ministries and agencies at the meeting was in anticipation that the deliberations would feed into budget 2019 and beyond to ensure more effectiveness at the local level. However, in terms of where the local democratic organs (LDOs) will get their resources, Bulkan said, “not central government. We are moving away from that. You must come up with creative ways, within the confines of the law and with the voice of your communities included, to generate needed revenue.”
