Arakan State budget allocations are disproportionate

28 Jun 2019

Min Tun | DMG

28 June, Sittwe

The Arakan State parliament pointed out to the regional government that budget allocations for different townships in Arakan State are not equal.

In allocating over K100 billions in the 2019- 2020 budget year, Ramree Township was given the highest amount of K9964 million and Rathedaung Township was given the lowest sum, which came to K3958 million.

U Oo Than Naing, Arakan State MP for Rathedaung Township, said that he was not satisfied receiving the lowest sum for his region.

“As a representative for people from my region, I am not satisfied with the allocation we were granted. Although skirmishes occurred in the eastern township, we could perform regional projects in the western township. As you all know, all roads in the township are dirt. And there are more than 80 villages in the western part of the township,” he said.

The Arakan State cabinet said that the discrepancies with the allocations happened because the implementation of regional development projects will face numerous difficulties in the Northern Arakan State due to clashes there. So, these areas have received a smaller allocation of finances.

U San Kyaw Hla, speaker of the Arakan State parliament, pointed out to the regional government that reducing budget allocations in Northern Arakan State due to the armed conflict in the region is not practical.

“The budget allocation is for the 2019- 2020 years. I must raise the question as to whether both sides want to continue fighting in the region till 2020. The fighting could end after negotiations, but no one can really make an educated guess whether the battles will end or not. So based on this idea, it’s an irrational decision to allocate a smaller budget for the war affected region with the thought that war will continue till 2020,” U San Kyaw Hla said.

U Zaw Zaw Myint, Arakan State MP for Buthidaung Township, said that large allocations are granted to townships in the ministers’ presence.

“Budget allocations are not equal throughout the state. It happens every year.  We have policies to allocate the budget according to population, area of the region and socio-economic conditions based on requisites. In reality, the budget allocation did not adhere to these policies. We realized that budget allocations in some regions were more than normal. This seemed to be an annual occurrence. An imbalance of budget allocations could harm national reconciliation,” he said.

In discussing the budget for 2019- 2020 budget years in the Arakan State parliament, 14 Arakan State MPs were involved in the discussion.

So, the cabinet needs to heed the recommendation of the parliament, MPs said.

Budget allocations are larger in southern Arakan State such as Thandwe, Taunggup, Gwa, Ann, Kyauk Phyu, Ramree and Man Aung Townships and they’re lower in Northern Arakan State such as Rathedaung, Buthidaung, Maungdaw, Ponnagyun, Kyauktaww, Mrauk-U, Minbya, Myebon, Pauktaw and Sittwe Townships.