评价水用户的财务绩效以土耳其的盆地为例【外文翻译】

外文翻译原文Assessing the financial performance of water userassociations:a case study at Great Menderesbasin,Turkey Material Source:Springer Science+Business Media Author:Cengiz KoçFinancial administration of management,operation,and maintenance(MOM) services in irrigation schemes is one of the most important functions of aWater User Association(WUA).Without proper MOM financial management,WUA can not properly operate or maintain its irrigation or drainage system.Proper financial management will not only help assure the economic viability and continued existence of WUA;it will establish and maintain the confidence of its member.The goals of MOM financial management are to facilitate an effective use of the assets of WUA,manage funds to the best benefit of its members,readily explain the financial condition of the WUA,establish and maintain the confidence of its member,help assure the economic viability and continued existence of the WUA.The institutional viability of WUA is strongly related to their financial management.The main source of revenue of WUA is the collection of water use charges as a result of MOM services provided to members.The level of these charges,in turn,is dependent on the costs of operating and maintaining the water supply system.Some types of water supply system are expensive to operate and maintain while others are cheaper,and while each system may have its own unique advantages,from the poverty alleviation aspects,the cost effectiveness of the system is an overriding consideration.Hence,the establishment of new WUA that use cost-effective technology is generally preferable to the use of more expensive technology.Financial administration of MOM services is the receipt,maintenance, expenditure,and account of the assets of a person,business,government department, an irrigation association or a group.Accounting for these is the heart of all financial management.Accounting may be defined as the art of analyzing and recording financial transaction and certain business-related economic events in a manner that classifies and summarizes the information and reports and interprets the results(Cone2004).Irrigation companies incur a number of costs in providing water services to farmers.Among these costs,a distinction must be made between economic costs and financial(accounting)costs incurred in the provision of irrigation services.Financial costs are the capital,operation and maintenance and administrative costs involved in ensuring a sustainable provision of irrigation water supply service(Roger et al.1997).In addition to financial costs,economic costs include all costs attributable to the company,including externalities which are not normally recorded in the company accounts(Greig1998).Water user association should be large enough to accomplish the designated tasks by collective action(Albernethy et al.2000).The larger a WUA is the more its financial viability is enhanced by advantages of scale.However such increases in scale come at a price,as larger organizations may find it more difficult to maintain good relations with their client than small organizations.A key consideration with regard to financial viability is the relationship between the revenue received from farmers and the costs of operation and maintenance:total revenue should be equal to or greater than the costs of operation and maintenance.If this is not the case,there may be good grounds to amalgamate a WUA with a neighbor if this can arguably improve the relationship between revenue and costs(Ostramet al.1993).In Mexico, a WUA of1,000–2,000ha is considered small and potentially financially unsustainable;such associations may either pool their resources,or merge to form one larger association so that MOM services can be carried out more efficiently.In other countries,WUAs are forming farmer organization at different levels of the system in order to improve management(Johnson2001).Aspects of financial performance of irrigation that are most related to management transfer are cost of irrigation to the government,cost of irrigation to farmers,levels of management staff(often the largest component of MOM costs), level of water charges and collection rates,budget solvency,and revenue sources (Vermillion1997).As of end of2005,State Hydraulic Works(DSI)in Turkey transferred93%of its1.86million ha to330Water User Associations(Demır et al. 2005).Budged of WUAs,Turkey for2003amounted US$70million.Expenditures of WUAs are58%for operation,28%for maintenance-repair and14%other. Collection rate of water charge for WUAs is95%(Ozlu2004).Koc(2001),in a study related with organizational financing of management, operation,and maintenance services of irrigation systems,reported that financial autonomy increased the efficiency in management,operation,and maintenance inirrigation tasks after comparing different countries with one another.It was also reported that average maintenance,repair and management costs of irrigation systems in Turkey was US$28ha and the ratio of personnel costs in total costs was 65%.The objective of performance benchmarking is to find and implement the best management practiced for organization.The difference between the tools and approach Rapid Appraisal Process and performance benchmarking reflects the difference between the modernization of hardware(infrastructure and control systems)and the reform of management practices.Both types of intervention may be valid and may compliment each other,but they should not be confused or substituted for each other(Malano2000).International Water Management Institute has developed an on-line programme called the On-Line Irrigation Benchmarking System,in which users can introduce data and establish a benchmarking procedure using existing data(Malano2002).In1997,the International Water Services Association established a Task Force on Performance Indicators within its Operation and Management specialist group. The task force held more than20technical meeting in Europe,South America and Africa to obtain the views of different member bodies on the formulation of appropriate performance indicators(Alegre et al.2002).Amanualofbestpracticeon ‘Performance Indicators for Water Supply Services’was published in July2000, (Alegre et al.2000)just as the International Irrigation and Drainage Community was meeting for the first time to consider benchmarking.Running in parallel with its task force on performance indicators,The International Water Association supported a separate tasks force on benchmarking,which reported in2002on process benchmarking relating to the financial performance of water supply utilizes,issues of service provision,water quality and environment were specifically excluded (Larson et al.2002).In recent years a substantial amount of literature has been produced on performance assessment for irrigation systems and irrigated agriculture (Vermillion2000;Malano and Van Hofwegen1999;Bossetal.1994:Murray-Rust and Snellen1993;Rao1993).Most indicators suggested are simple and are meant to be practical and inexpensive to measure and use.Nevertheless,use of such indicators is still relatively rare in developing countries.International Water Management Institute developed a set for evaluating the performance of the transferred irrigation systems in comparison(Molden et al.1998). Based on this set,following authors evaluated the performances of related irrigationsystems.In this study,financial performance of WUAs,carried out MOM services of irrigation schemes in the Great Menderes basin was evaluated.Great Menderes basin is located in West Anatolia,Turkey.Four irrigation schemes,Nazilli,Akçay,Aydın,and Söke in the basin were identified as schemes where financial performance indicators were evaluated.The key descriptors for irrigation schemes researched in the basin were summarized(Table1).Data relating to schemes for6years(1999to2004)were collected from Department of Regional XXI,State Hydraulic Works(DSI),and Water User Associations(DSI1999,2000, 2001,2002,2003,2004).These data included total command area serviced by system,total number of personnel employed,total personnel cost,total MOM expenditure,total annual irrigation fee collected,total annual irrigation fee assessed, the revenue out of irrigation fee revenue,total volume of water delivered,total MOM revenue collected,and total maintenance cost.DSI and WUAs use computers to enter,monitor,and process their data.To enable comparisons across countries and time,local unit’s currencies were converted to international standard units and constant US$dollar prices.A performance indicator is basically a quantitative measure of an aspect of irrigation standards which helps to evaluate and monitor irrigation efficiency (Alegre et al.2000).Performance indicators are therefore relation ships between two or more magnitudes of an irrigation zone.In order to calculate,these indicators it is necessary to previously define the parameters or variables to be used(Perez2003). Taking account of the availability of data,the ease of calculation and interpretation of the indices and their sensitive to factors,the12financial performance indicators were selected and evaluated for irrigation schemes.To calculate the financial performance indicators,ten variables were chosen and classified into the irrigation schemes.Financial performance indicators selected,definition,units,abbreviation for indicators,and data specifications were summarized(Table2).Average value, average of maximum values,average of minimum values,and difference factor value related with financial performance indicators were calculated by Software program,Microsoft Office Excel2003.FD,difference factor value of financial performance indicators selected is the average of maximum financial performance indicator values,divided by average of minimum financial performance indicator values.In order to calculate the average of maximum financial performance indicator values and average of minimum performance indicator values;each of thefinancial performance indicator values is put in order from maximum values to minimum values for years researched.Maximum and minimum values of performance indicators are grouped separately and divided number of performance indicators grouped.FD,difference factor value is used to determine the extent to which financial performance indicators change in duration researched.In other words,FD shows the changing ratio of financial performance indicators.When considered that about1.7million ha irrigation areas have been transferred to WUAs in Turkey,it is clear that how important the financial performance of WUAs is.Measured and evaluation of financial performance of WUAs in Turkey are urgently required to improve their financial performance and to raise their management levels.The financial performance of WUA can be measured and evaluated by a method which consists of12financial indicators.The present level of financial performance of WUA,major problems and their main causes can be clarified and the main measures for resolving the problems and improving the financial performance can be identified by applying the abovementioned method. The evaluation of financial performance four WUAs in Turkey has demonstrated the application of the method described.This type of evaluation can help to improve the financial performance of WUAs,established in Turkey.。