Municipal Council Loses Revenue
“We have met all the town councils and some of you understand the challenges, some of the changes that were made in a dictatorial manner, the way that councils were managed over the years, is now coming out very clearly,” he said.
Monday 15 January 2024 | 15:16
Municipal councils eliminating fees has led to a depletion of revenue and a struggle to meet operational costs.
This was stressed the Minister for Finance Biman Prasad after he toured the Tavua Sub-Divisional Hospital on January 12.
Mr Prasad’s West tour from January 8 to 12 included mainly project site visits and public consultations in Sigatoka, Nadi, Lautoka, Ba, and Tavua.
Related stories
“We have met all the town councils and some of you understand the challenges, some of the changes that were made in a dictatorial manner, the way that councils were managed over the years, is now coming out very clearly,” he said.
“Councils are running short of revenue, things that they could do on their own by collecting revenue, having certain fees and charges which made sense for years were removed without the thinking and proper assessment of how it will impact on the services.”
He said he also discussed the timeline for capital projects in Ba
“The Govind Park issue is still there, so they are talking about a car park, an increase in the number of traffic vehicles in Ba so these are projects that they’ve talked about, but these are plans that we need to let the new administrators settle in and begin discussing how they could do that,” he said.
Story by: salote.qalubau@fijisun.com.fj
