Investor Presentaiton
FINANCING SUSTAINABLE TOURISM IN KHYBER PAKHTUNKHWA
3.2
Galliyat Development
Authority Act, 2016
The Galliyat Development Authority (GDA) is
responsible for all development works
including environmental upgradation, tourism
development, housing schemes and uplift of
the local community in the Galliyat region of
KP. As part of its mandate the authority can
impose fines, levy and collect fees and charges
as approved by the Galliyat Development
Authority Act. Furthermore, the authority has
the power to recover all arrears of taxes (fees &
charges) rents and other moneys, within the
Galliyat areas, through arrears of land revenue.
The Authority also collects fees or user charges
for the services it provides or facilities it extends
to the public, including fee or charges on
account of conservancy, maintenance of public
parks, green belts and green areas, within the
Galliyat areas.
The GDA is the oldest Authority in the region
and operates independently with a high
degree of autonomy. The four main taxes
collected by the GDA include property tax,
conservancy tax/fee, water tax and road/toll
tax. The GDA can also levy betterment fees and
collects tax on transfer of immovable property
and charges for land regulation. From the
stakeholder interviews with GDA officials, it was
apparent that the Authority has considerable
financial autonomy allowing it to develop
and implement plans and schemes for
infrastructure upgradation and tourism
related projects. In addition, the planned
Thandiani ITZ under the KPCTA will be
developed and managed by GDA.
The GDA has an independent board
comprising ex-officio members of the KP
government and representatives of the private
sector who have some form of affiliation
with the Galliyat region The decisions on
planning and development of the region lies
with the Board. The GDA has no direct and
formal engagement with the private sector
businesses providing tourism and hospi-
tality services in the area nor has a formal
mechanism of involving local businesses and
communities in the planning and develop-
ment decisions of the area. From the stake-
holder interviews it was evident that such
involvement is considered by GDA to
potentially cause 'conflict of interest'. 18
Nonetheless, the current revenue collection
and expenditure model of GDA is closest
to the idea of ring-fencing revenues to
expenditures for tourism related develop-
ment, albeit without the extent of local
stakeholder/community involvement present
where tourism revenues and expenditures are
managed through a local government system.
Local governments in the Galliyat region are
limited to rural areas or villages, with a mandate
circumscribed to the provision of services such
as health, sewerage etc. The tourist areas
of Galliyat fall under the administrative control
of GDA and have no local government
involvement as such.
18 Article 4 (1a) of the Galliyat Development Authority Act stipulates that there will be 5 members from the private sector on the board, with
no conflict of interest. Due to this clause members from the private sector are those individuals, selected by the provincial government
following submission of CVs by potential candidates, who have some technical expertise and may or may not be affiliated with the region
in some manner but do not own or operate any business in the region.
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