AAR5220- Urban Contingency Planning and Practice
10. Funding of the plan (Budget) The financial aspects is always critical in the management of disasters. In order to strengthen local governments’ incentive for disaster management could be for local governments and municipalities to build up a disaster reserve fund (Nathan E. Busch, 2013). It has been shown that a municipality or a local government that has their own financial resources will be able to respond better to local demand and promote a greater economic growth (Rodriguez and Krøijer, 2009). The main issue with this is that there is many municipalities that lack their own financial resources and it must therefore be addressed how these resources should be raised (Nathan E. Busch, 2013).
In the given scenario for our contingency plan the municipality of Trondheim has a disaster management authority but is has very limited funding. Because of this the municipality together with involved stakeholders must find other ways of funding for response, prevention and preparedness. We have therefore chosen two main strategies for funding of the contingency plan.
1. Private-Public Partnerships As mentioned public-private partnerships are becoming an increasingly popular way for governments and local governments of engaging private actors in the delivery of government infrastructure and services (Nathan E. Busch, 2013). In our contingency plan and the chosen scenario, as Brattøra becomes an important area for business and the main hub for transportation in the region, it would be beneficial for both the municipality and local business to cooperate.
Flooding or other hazards could have major consequences for the area such as financial and employment losses, loss of the main transportation connection for the region which could be connected to a disruption in commercial activities. Local business would therefore have an incentive for engaging in partnerships with the municipality in terms of funding and financing for prevention and preparedness for hazards. This also contributes to a shared risk and profit for the businesses and municipality. The actual profit sharing does not have to be about financial profits, as the financial profits will probably be gained by involved public actors and the municipality will gain more of the social benefits. (Nathan E. Busch, 2013).
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