Mobilizing urban infrastructure finance within a responsible fiscal framework : South African case

Mobilizing urban infrastructure finance within a responsible fiscal framework : South African case PDF Author: Philip Van Ryneveld
Publisher: World Bank Publications
ISBN:
Category : Cities
Languages : en
Pages : 17

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Book Description
Abstract: Since South Africa held its first democratic elections in 1994, it has given significant attention to building an effective system of decentralization including provincial and local government. While provincial governments are responsible mainly for the implementation of social services such as health and education, the provision of much of the urban infrastructure is the responsibility of local government. Although many challenges remain, the country has made significant progress over the past decade in addressing urban service backlogs in poor areas. At the same time, it has greatly improved macroeconomic fundamentals. The system of financing local government seeks to place accountability firmly at the local level, with most revenues in the larger urban centers raised locally through a combination of local taxes and fees for services, while poorer regions are predominantly grant funded. The objective has been to encourage the financing of capital infrastructure through local borrowing based on sustainable, transparent local finances rather than national repayment guarantees, which are outlawed. There is some indirect subsidization of loans through the state-owned Development Bank of Southern Africa. But the emphasis is on achieving redistribution through transparent, formula-based grants paid directly from national to local governments. While further bedding down of the system is needed, the approach is proving largely successful. The paper concludes by recommending that the existing division between provinces as providers of social services and local governments as the key locus of responsibility for services related to the built environment should be strengthened, particularly through the devolution of more urban transport related functions. A number of key risks are also highlighted, including issues related to the reform of local business taxes.

Mobilizing urban infrastructure finance within a responsible fiscal framework : South African case

Mobilizing urban infrastructure finance within a responsible fiscal framework : South African case PDF Author: Philip Van Ryneveld
Publisher: World Bank Publications
ISBN:
Category : Cities
Languages : en
Pages : 17

Get Book

Book Description
Abstract: Since South Africa held its first democratic elections in 1994, it has given significant attention to building an effective system of decentralization including provincial and local government. While provincial governments are responsible mainly for the implementation of social services such as health and education, the provision of much of the urban infrastructure is the responsibility of local government. Although many challenges remain, the country has made significant progress over the past decade in addressing urban service backlogs in poor areas. At the same time, it has greatly improved macroeconomic fundamentals. The system of financing local government seeks to place accountability firmly at the local level, with most revenues in the larger urban centers raised locally through a combination of local taxes and fees for services, while poorer regions are predominantly grant funded. The objective has been to encourage the financing of capital infrastructure through local borrowing based on sustainable, transparent local finances rather than national repayment guarantees, which are outlawed. There is some indirect subsidization of loans through the state-owned Development Bank of Southern Africa. But the emphasis is on achieving redistribution through transparent, formula-based grants paid directly from national to local governments. While further bedding down of the system is needed, the approach is proving largely successful. The paper concludes by recommending that the existing division between provinces as providers of social services and local governments as the key locus of responsibility for services related to the built environment should be strengthened, particularly through the devolution of more urban transport related functions. A number of key risks are also highlighted, including issues related to the reform of local business taxes.

Mobilizing Urban Infrastructure Finance Within a Responsible Fiscal Framework

Mobilizing Urban Infrastructure Finance Within a Responsible Fiscal Framework PDF Author: Philip van Ryneveld
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description
Since South Africa held its first democratic elections in 1994, it has given significant attention to building an effective system of decentralization including provincial and local government. While provincial governments are responsible mainly for the implementation of social services such as health and education, the provision of much of the urban infrastructure is the responsibility of local government. Although many challenges remain, the country has made significant progress over the past decade in addressing urban service backlogs in poor areas. At the same time, it has greatly improved macroeconomic fundamentals. The system of financing local government seeks to place accountability firmly at the local level, with most revenues in the larger urban centers raised locally through a combination of local taxes and fees for services, while poorer regions are predominantly grant funded. The objective has been to encourage the financing of capital infrastructure through local borrowing based on sustainable, transparent local finances rather than national repayment guarantees, which are outlawed. There is some indirect subsidization of loans through the state-owned Development Bank of Southern Africa. But the emphasis is on achieving redistribution through transparent, formula-based grants paid directly from national to local governments. While further bedding down of the system is needed, the approach is proving largely successful. The paper concludes by recommending that the existing division between provinces as providers of social services and local governments as the key locus of responsibility for services related to the built environment should be strengthened, particularly through the devolution of more urban transport related functions. A number of key risks are also highlighted, including issues related to the reform of local business taxes.

Fiscal Decentralization and Local Finance in Developing Countries

Fiscal Decentralization and Local Finance in Developing Countries PDF Author: Roy Bahl
Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing
ISBN: 1786435306
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 512

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Book Description
This book draws on experiences in developing countries to bridge the gap between the conventional textbook treatment of fiscal decentralization and the actual practice of subnational government finance. The extensive literature about the theory and practice is surveyed and longstanding problems and new questions are addressed. It focuses on the key choices that must be made in decentralizing, on how economic and political factors shape the choices that countries make, and on how, by paying more attention to the need for a more comprehensive approach and the critical connections between different components of decentralization reform, everyone involved might get more for their money.

The Future of Federalism

The Future of Federalism PDF Author: Richard Eccleston
Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing
ISBN: 1784717789
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 400

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Book Description
The crisis and its aftermath had a dramatic short-term effect on federal relations and, as the twelve case studies in this volume show, set in place a new set of socio-political factors that are shaping the longer-run process of institutional evolution and adaptation in federal systems. This illuminating book illustrates how an understanding of these complex dynamics is crucial to the development of policies needed for effective and sustainable federal governance in the twenty-first century.​

Financing Cities

Financing Cities PDF Author: George E Peterson
Publisher: SAGE
ISBN: 9780761935643
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 368

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Book Description
This book highlights the need to boost infrastructure investment in cities as also the necessity for fiscal management across all levels of government-within the context of decentralizing service delivery responsibilities. The volume provides case studies reflecting various viewpoints and a range of success and failure stories from five countries. The topics covered include: - Impact of political and fiscal decentralization - Limitations on borrowing - Managing moral hazard - The role of the financial sector in striking a balance between controls and encouraging the local government to maintain fiscal discipline

SPATIAL ANALYSIS AND GEOSPATIAL TECHNOLOGIES

SPATIAL ANALYSIS AND GEOSPATIAL TECHNOLOGIES PDF Author: Dr. Basavaraj R. Bagade & Dr. Mohd Akhter Ali
Publisher: Ashok Yakkaldevi
ISBN: 1716827116
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 243

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Book Description
The administrators of city or a town adopt two approaches to evaluate the urban places and the impact of urbanization. The first approach undertakes the Study of size, function, growth rate, and tributary area of cities in the general fabric of settlements. The second approach deals with the internal structure of cities and the related factors, which control the layout and buildings, the character and intensity of land use, the movement of persons and goods between various functional areas. The land use planning is a part of larger process of city planning. It is basically concerned with location, intensity, and amount of land development required from various space using functions of city life, such as, industry, wholesaling business, housing, recreation, education, and religious and cultural activities of the people. The study of urban land use and its planning is of considerable significance in the overall planning of urban places like Gadag-Betageri city. Decline and decay of our cities calls for all policy makers, administrators and Politicians to stop destructive forces of the urban development and to forge alliances among all local and national forces which are concerned with the social, political, economic, ecological, physical and cultural development of our cities and towns. Despite the claims that developments in communications imply that the cities are Remote Sensing and GIS going to lose their function and will change dramatically, it cannot be predicted that the new paradigm of the 'information city' will only represent another device of those who do not have access to information technology.]

Enhancing Resource Allocation to Urban Development in Africa

Enhancing Resource Allocation to Urban Development in Africa PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Africa
Languages : en
Pages : 98

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Book Description
This report draws on the main papers, discussions and recommendations of the African Regional Seminar on Enhancing Resource Allocation to Cities to Strengthen their Role as Engines of Economic Growth and Development - convened by the Urban Economy and Finance Branch of UN-HABITAT and held in Nairobi on 2-3 November 2005. The report sheds light on the required measures to enhance resource allocation for accelerating urban development in Africa.

Deposit Insurance and Banking Reform in Russia

Deposit Insurance and Banking Reform in Russia PDF Author: Modibo Khane Camara
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Banks and banking
Languages : en
Pages : 28

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Book Description
The objective of this paper is not to review the pros and cons of deposit insurance systems, but to focus, rather narrowly, on the recent adoption of a deposit insurance system (DIS) in Russia, the rationale offered, and the potential impact it might have on the stability and development of the Russian banking system. An attempt is made to draw some lessons from the implementation experience in Russia. The paper starts with a brief description of the Russian DIS, followed by an overview of the banking system's structure and some observations on the sequencing followed for adopting the DIS and the political economy of its adoption. It concludes with a discussion of areas requiring attention.

Land Leasing and Land Sale as an Infrastructure-financing Option

Land Leasing and Land Sale as an Infrastructure-financing Option PDF Author: George E. Peterson
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Land use, Urban
Languages : en
Pages : 32

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Book Description
Municipal land sales provide one option for financing urban infrastructure investment. In countries where land is owned by the public sector, land is by far the most valuable asset on the municipal balance sheet. Selling land or long-term leasing rights to land use while investing the proceeds in infrastructure facilities can be viewed as a type of portfolio asset adjustment. This paper shows that in China many municipalities have financed more than half of their high rates of infrastructure investment from land sales, for periods of 10 to 15 years. Much of the remaining investment has been financed by municipal borrowing against the collateral of land values. Other countries also have turned to land sales and leasing for infrastructure finance. From a local perspective, land sales have the advantage that they typically are free from the intergovernmental restrictions that require higher-level approval for increases in local tax rates or user fees and that restrict local government borrowing. However, financing municipal infrastructure investment through land sales creates special risks that are not recognized in most intergovernmental fiscal frameworks. One danger involves the use of proceeds to finance operating budgets. Risk exposure is exaggerated by the highly volatile nature of urban land markets and evidence that in some countries urban land values in 2006 reflected a real estate bubble. In the past, Hong Kong, a jurisdiction that has relied heavily on land-leasing to finance its infrastructure budget, has seen land sales fall to zero at the bottom of the real estate cycle. The greatest financial sector risk stems from municipal borrowing based on inflated land values offered as collateral to banks. Sound intergovernmental fiscal management will require tighter regulation of municipalities' financial leveraging of land assets to avoid excessive risk taking by local governments.

The World Bank Research Program, 2005-2007

The World Bank Research Program, 2005-2007 PDF Author:
Publisher: World Bank Publications
ISBN: 0821374060
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 286

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Book Description
This pocket-sized reference on key environmental data for over 200 countries includes key indicators on agriculture, forestry, biodiversity, energy, emission and pollution, and water and sanitation. The volume helps establish a sound base of information to help set priorities and measure progress toward environmental sustainability goals.