Local Public Services Performance and Unofficial ... - Pact Cambodia

from about US$440 in Phnom Penh, US$300 in provincial towns, US$170 in
district towns and US$100 in rural areas.
Another form of revenue, local household contributions, is generally used
as supplementary funds for local development projects. The average share of local
contribution funds in each development project generally represents around 8
percent for the commune in Phnom Penh, 5 percent in provincial towns and 3
percent in both district towns and rural areas.
Aside from all of these official funds, the unofficial fees represent a
significant additional share if included in the whole budget of each commune. The
share of unofficial fees is generally high at the Phnom Penh commune in (38
percent) and respectively declines in provincial towns (31 percent), district towns
(20 percent) and rural areas (12 percent).
3.4. Unofficial Fees and Households’ Livelihoods
Though the practice of unofficial payment is seen everywhere regarding
commune services, the survey’s findings in general did not find that this had a
significant impact on households’ livelihoods. On average, each household pays
about 9,000 Riel annually to the commune office in unofficial fees. Compared to
their annual expenditure, the average share of unofficial fees paid by each
household varies from rural to urban areas, ranging from 0.2 percent in remote
rural areas and 0.5 percent in provincial towns.
Figure 3.6: Proportion of Unofficial Fees in the Household Expenditure
3.5%
3.2%
3.0%
2.5%
2.0%
1.5%
2.7%
1.6%
1.0%
1.4%
0.5%
0.0%
0.5%
Urban
UF in Commune Office
0.2%
Rural
UF in other services (CSD)
Source: EIC’s Survey, July-August 2006.
Local Public Services: Performance and Unofficial Fees – November 2006 33