Municipal financial capacity for the provision of environmental services in the regional cities of Chiang Mai and Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand | |
| Author | Villeneuve, David Paul |
| Call Number | AIT Thesis no.HS-93-30 |
| Subject(s) | Infrastructure (Economics)--Thailand--Nakhon Ratchasima Infrastructure (Economics)--Thailand--Chiang Mai |
| Note | A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science, School of Engineering and Technology |
| Publisher | Asian Institute of Technology |
| Series Statement | Thesis ; no. HS-93-30 |
| Abstract | As greater responsibility devolves to the local government level for the financing of urban infrastructure, improvement of this sector's fiscal capacity is needed to meet the development challenge of their rapidly growing urban areas. This study investigates and analyses the capacity of municipal governments in Chiang Mai and Nakhorn Ratchasima to locally generate sufficient revenues to address deficiencies in their urban environmental services. It further identifies the various barriers and bottlenecks preventing maximization of this resource. Barriers have been identified in the areas of: (1) Market Structure of the local and national development process which does not adequately encourage the internalization of the negative costs of development by the beneficiary; (2) Institutional constraints which see the current inter-governmental authority. responsibility and dependency structures as impeding the potential for decentralization and in turn the ability for local government to achieve greater control and access to existing local resources; (3) Legislative/Regulatory limitations that while directly linked to institutional blockages, must be carried out as an additional and complementary step; (4) Administrative inefficiency and attitudes which prevent the maximization of the current resources available as well as potentially creating longer term negative impact through short-term approaches; (5) Political interference that prevents administrative efficiency and lowers the potential for specific resource mobilization; and (6) Technical considerations that do not attain the 'correct fit' of solutions with resources available, cultural aspects. environmental conditions. financial limitations and societal needs and wants. A set of without/with scenarios and loan liability capacity illustrates the potential for these municipalities to increase local sources of revenue in order to finance a greater share of investment in infrastructure. Based on the demonstrated potential from these scenarios, a set of recommendations were developed to overcome the various barriers and impediments: Introduction of Development Cost Charges to internalize the negative externalities of development; Alteration of the current taxation based on rental value to a capital value and improvement taxation system; Amend the role of the central government from a regulatory decision-making function to a more support and monitoring role; Reduce the range and number of tax exemptions granted; Adopt a greater cost recovery principle for service provision; Improvement of the municipal efficiency through improved training and technical improvement; Increase local flexibility in designing, implementing and assuming a higher degree of authority for the success of programmes; Responsibility for hiring local senior staff becomes the domain of local government; Development and adoption of urban structure plans to improve the planning and coordination of resources and development projects; Improve accessibility to alternate financing sources for development projects; Establish flexibility in setting municipal jurisdictional boundaries to reflect urbanization patterns, or establish a metropolitan management unit to administer the placement and development of urban services. |
| Year | 1993 |
| Corresponding Series Added Entry | Asian Institute of Technology. Thesis ; no. HS-93-30 |
| Type | Thesis |
| School | School of Engineering and Technology (SET) |
| Department | Department of Civil and Infrastucture Engineering (DCIE) |
| Academic Program/FoS | Human Settlement (HS) |
| Chairperson(s) | Archer, R.W.; |
| Examination Committee(s) | Kammeier, Hans Detlef;Charas Suwanmala; |
| Scholarship Donor(s) | Canadian International Development Agency;Asian Institute of Technology; |
| Degree | Thesis (M.Sc.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 1993 |