Councils concerned over delayed disbursement of block grant

Local councils have expressed concern over the delays by the government in disbursing funds to the councils under block grant.

Vaavu Atoll Council President Shujau Ali said the delays began in November.

In this regard, while councils received the funds required for their expenses starting from 20^th of every month previously, the disbursement of the funds have currently been delayed by almost one and a half months as per Shujau.

“During the past five months, the block grant for each month has not been received by the time salaries need to be paid. Thus, we are forced to manage the expenses with whatever funds the council has,” he added.

Shujau noted that all expenses of the council are funded through the government’s block grant. Henceforth, he emphasized the difficulties arising from the fact such as obstruction in the payment of salaries and settling utility bills.

Underscoring that the law set out the guidelines to disburse the block grants to the councils, Shujau said the delays in receiving the funds have set back the operations of councils.

“We are hesitant to seek services required from third parties to conduct our programs planned for this year if these funds are not received,” he said.

Local Government Authority (LGA) has yet to comment regarding the issue.

The current administration is undertaking various efforts to ensure local councils are financially empowered entities. In this regard, President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu has previously detailed plans to allocate part of tax revenue to Maldives Inland Revenue Authority (MIRA) to the councils.