L

O C AT I O N

AP

Aklan Capiz

Antique Iloilo Cebu

Bohol Bais City Negros Occidental Negros Oriental

N
Manila

Luzon

Cebu

Visayas

Bais City

Davao

Mindanao

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City Development Strategy Report Introduction And Statement Of Methodology

The herein City Development Strategic Plan covers a planning period of ten years, from year 2003 to year 2012, for the entire City of Bais. This plan document is the collated result or output of a series of extensive researches, public/ stakeholder consultations and workshops as well as knowledge sharing among participating cities and consultants involved in the City Development Strategy (CDS-2) Project of the League of Cities of the Philippines (LCP) with technical and financial assistance from the World Bank. This plan document reflects the City's vision and desired direction for the future; and lays down the strategies on how the City shall work for the attainment of its goals and objectives. The strategies herein formulated take into account the importance of poverty reduction as a major component of community well-being along with economic progress and social stability. Such strategies are categorized into six major aspects of development; viz: economic development, socio-cultural development and poverty alleviation, urban design and transport, environment, finance, and good governance. The planning procedure was based on the City's baseline profile comprised of background data, city structure and inventory or resources and potentials. The data gathered were evaluated on the basis of set diagnostic indicators on livability, competitiveness, good governance, and bankability. These indicators are the four tenets by which the City shall look into itself from now on and see whether it has come up to expectations.

Overall Local Development Vision And Strategy

"An agri-industrial Bais City, providing the Baisanons with a better quality of life through employment opportunities, better infrastructure and enhanced basic services, and food security in an ecologically balanced environment and sustained natural resource; performing a pro-active role in nation-building." The City's vision starts off with its most pronounced economic base which is agriculture and the sugar industry. Agricultural crop production, however, is still relatively very low specially in the upland agricultural areas which comprise around 70% of the total 19,377 ha of agricultural land devoted to sugarcane, rice, corn, coconut, banana, coffee, fruits, 12

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vegetables and other local crops. And the foremost identified intervention needed is a combination of agricultural research and extension services and the provision of basic infrastructure such as improved farm-to-market roads, irrigation systems and post harvest facilities, as well as processes and technologies for value-added production. As it wont with local agricultural economies, Bais City is in dire need of employment opportunities even for its local graduates in college with bachelor degrees and technicalvocational courses which are being successfully offered by the locally-funded college institution. The City's past dream of being able to establish and provide readily accessible and low-cost college education has long been realized. The biggest challenge now is that the graduates have nowhere to go after getting that education, for lack of employment opportunities. This is one of the underlying factors which influenced the Baisanons to long for the presence of agri-based industries in the city which are also envisioned to answer to the need of value-adding agricultural production. Notwithstanding the City's envisioned direction towards agri-industrialization, it is cognizant of the fact that it is richly endowed with a fragile ecosystem which includes the North and South Bais Bays, a network of 24 major river systems, and inland lakes and a 5, 072-ha watershed which serves 3 other municipalities. The protection and enhancement of this ecosystem is given equal importance in the life of Baisanons. Economic progress should not take precedence over the destruction of the City's environment. Corrollarily, the City's vision of a better future is not confined inside its borders. Rather, it extends beyond its territorial boundaries, to embrace its neighboring municipalities and the whole of the Filipino nation. The City sees itself as an active participant in the task of nation-building.

STRATEGIES
Sustainable development of the City's natural physical and human resources focusing primarily on value-added agricultural production and food security; and improved living conditions. Reorientation of socio-cultural valuestowards community involvement and selfreliance and establishment of poverty-focused programs and delivery system of basic services. Establishment of better urban amenities and appropriate utilities and infrastructure including farm-to-market roads to improve access and circulation system and delivery of basic services and to pave the way for enhanced socio-economic activities to take place.

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Restoration and enhancement of ecological balance in the environment and its natural resources; establishment and implementation of clean technology and pollution control measures and effective environmental management programs. Active presence and participation of private sector investors in capital investment input and enhanced LGU financial capability to undertake capital investment projects. Establish of well-defined system and procedures of local governance to conform with the ideals set forth in the context of local autonomy.

OBJECTIVES
By the end of year 2006, land utilization for agricultural production shall have been increased from 50 to 80% rate of utilization against idle agricultural lands. Support infrastructure on agricultural food production shall have been in place thru the establishment of irrigation and post-harvest facilities in every identified agriculturally productive barangay. Technology transfer and support services shall have been provided to agricultural communities for the attainment of increased production yield per hectarage as well as added value of farm products thru processing and packaging to meet international market standards. To put in place the necessary welfare assistance and create an atmosphere of opportunities for poor communities to be able to help themselves in a sustainable way. Within a ten-year period, there shall have been established in every barangay level the ideal delivery of basic service on health, education and social welfare development whereby access to such services are readily available in-place. At the end of the ten-year period, a network of support infrastructure and utilities for transportation, communication, and water and power system shall have been put in place, as catalyst to development. Put a stop to forest denudation and coastal degradation as well as restore ecological balance in the physical environment thru the establishment of an integrated environmental management program.

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To decrease the City's IRA-dependency ratio of 88% by at least 2% yearly thru local revenue generation; private sector capital input on business and trade and increased tax collection efficiency. To put in place the ideal system and procedures of local governance that is free of red tape, graft and corruption. To perform the active role in the integrated area development concept among LGUs within the province and region specially on environmental concerns and economic development.

Economic Development
The biggest challenge that the City of Bais faces in terms of economic development is the dominance of the monolithic sugarcane industry in the over-all local economy. The sugarcane industry dominates land use and land ownership, output of agricultural production, seasonal employment and the movement in the market of goods and services. Sugarcane covers 9,056 hectares or 47% of the total agricultural land of the city devoted to agricultural crop production; and 100% of the prime agricultural land close to the poblacion and adjacent low lying areas with 16 sugarland hacienda barangays owned by haciendero families of Spanish descent. This translates to a very wide gap between the minority rich and the majority poor of the population with 10% owning 90% of the productive land. With the sugarcane haciendas bounding the city streets, the City is also very much constrained in terms of land/ spatial development and expansion for institutional, commercial and other economic uses even at the instigation of the city government. This is one reason that the City still remains unattractive to private investors. In terms of other agricultural production, there is a marked under-utilization of vast agricultural lands in the upland areas of the city. Supposedly, there are 23,000 hectares of agricultural zone but only 19,377 hectares or 84% are productive with coconut as major crops second to sugarcane and corn. Production yields however are also below standards as 363 hectares of riceland give a yield of 1,452 metric tons while 5,633 hectares of cornland have a production yield of 16,899 metric tons; which roughly equals to 3 tons per hectare per year. Another main feature of the local economy is the fishing industry which involves 13 coastal barangays of the city with an estimated 1,700 households. These fisher-families, however, 15

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are classified as marginal fishermen with a daily average fish catch below 20 kgs. Bais Bay is the major fishing ground which covers a total of 8,430 hectares including the outermost reef margin, featuring a soft bottom area, a 406 hectare mangrove forest, seagrass beds and coral reef. The bay area however, has been subjected to over-fishing and over-exploitation as well as environmental pollution; so much so that the Bay has a very low "catch per unit effort" (CPUE) with fish sizes caught relatively small (mean density of 1,167.54 and 4,904 per sq.m.). The following show the CPUE in kilogram per person-hour of top 3 types of gear and their income per unit effort in peso per person-hour (CRMP, 2000). Drill Gill Net Fish Coral Multiple Hook & Live : : : CPUE--114.80 CPUE-- 6.40 CPUE-- 4.0 IPUE-- P5,886.00 IPUE-- 335.70 IPUE--124.30

Evidently, small sizes of fish caught from the Bay and the low catch per unit effort are indicative of overfishing. Fish and shellfish harvested from the Bay are brought to the city's fish market and to adjacent areas of Tanjay City and Manjuyod. Bais market receives most of the harvested fish and shellfish since it is most accessible to most fishermen. Some fish and shellfish, however, reach the Dumaguete fish market and empty seashells are sold in sacks to the shellcraft industry in Cebu. Crabs also reach the Bacolod market. Unemployment and underemployment is also one of the pressing economic issues faced by the City. The total estimated labor force of the city is at 60.8% of the population which numbers more than 41,000; a large group of which (17,023) is between the ages 25-44. Seventy-five percent (75%) of the total labor force are mainly artisans, fishermen and farm laborers. Employment rate is placed at 60% which is mostly agriculture-based; basically sugarcane. With the seasonal nature of the sugarcane industry, underemployment is also prevalent. Ventures in business, commerce and trade and auxiliary service industry are composed mostly of retail and general services concentrated in the vicinity of the two market sites within the poblacion, which also locates shops and offices, and public and private institutions/ facilities for education, sports and recreation, health and social welfare. The general business environment is still relatively slow and quite, more so that the city's old public market was gutted down by fire in the year 2000 and is yet to be replaced. There are only 920 smallscale business establishments, 886 or majority of which are in retail trade and services (sarisari stores and market stalls, personal and auxiliary services); while there are only 24 registered wholesale traders.

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Social Development
Social development issues are also very much correlated with the prevailing poverty of the majority of the City's population. Poverty rate is placed at 65% of the population. The 1989 labor statistics showed that only 10% of the total households (11,000) had a monthly household income of above P 5,000 (national average in 1994 was P 6,986). The rest were broken down as follows: income not fixed--10%, P 100-499--7%, 500-999--23%, 1,0001,499--19%, 1,500-1,999--6%, and 2,000-4,999--25%. Literacy rate based on the 1995 census on population by NSO did not reach 79%; and Enrollment Participation Ratio (EPR) was only good in the primary and intermediate level which showed 98% EPR. Secondary and tertiary level EPRs are drastically lower with 71% and 25% respectively. Recurring consequence of poverty include malnutrition among children, with the City having 32% of its children rated as first to third degree malnourished. Infant mortality rate is 8.31%; while maternal mortality rate is 2.4%. On household sanitary toilet facilities, there are still 1,983 households with no toilets at all. This represents 17% of the total 11,875 households that were surveyed in year 2000. Based from a 1989 socio-economic survey, only 70% of the population own the house and lot they are residing; while 7% rent their houses; 3% of the houses are on sub-lease; and the remaining 20% are rent-free. It is assumed that the 20% rent-free category consists mostly of households which occupy public and private lands with or without permission. Generally, about 64% of the housing units (1999 projected number of households is 13,589) need improvement in structure as well as basic services such as water supply, electricity, road access, communication service, sewage management and garbage collection. Level III water supply system (with house taps) is served by the Bais City Water District, a quasi-public corporation whose present service coverage is limited only to the urban area with 2,026 registered household-concessionaires. The BCWD's eleven (11) pumping stations have combined capacity of 805 gals/ min or 4,637 cubic meters per day. Level II system is found in rural and urban areas where houses are clustered densely to justify a simple piped system (communal faucets located not more than 25 meters from the from the farthest house) and which is serving a total of 1,425 households.

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Level I system, found in rural areas where the houses are thinly scattered, and which consist of a protected well or a developed spring with an outlet but without a distribution system, is being availed of by 1,880 households. All in all, the 3 levels of water supply system covers a total of 5,331 households, representing only 39% coverage.

Urban Design And Transport

Bais City is served by an internal road network of about 160 km which provide access to the various barangays. Only about 26 km are asphalt cement paved city streets and those roads which are located in the poblacion and adjacent areas. This gives a Road-Urban Population Ratio of 2.03 (standard is 2.40 km/ 1,000 population); and a Road Arable Land Ratio of .60 (Standard is 1.5 km/100 ha) which show that Bais has an insufficient road network. This sub-standard situation is not just with respect to quantity criteria but to quality as well, since most interior barangay/ farm-to-market roads are mere dirt roads which become impassable during the rainy season. The local primary mode of transportation within the confines of the whole city which covers a contiguous land area of 31,690 hectares is land transportation composed mainly of light vehicles. Public access in terms of public utility vehicles however, is very much limited, specially in the upland barangays while encompassing almost 90% of the total land area of the city to serve over 40,000 residents. Public transportation plying these areas only consist of 18 jeepneys along the highway going to the adjacent municipality of Mabinay; and 10 other jeepneys along the interior areas of Tamisu, Manlipac, Panala-an, Sab-ahan, Mabunao and Cambagahan; as enumerated in the table shown below. These are augmented by one "easy-ride" while plying the Bais-Tagpo route and 7 others plying the Bais-Manlipac route. As reflected in the following map, the coverage of public transportation is so inadequate. Less than 10% of an estimated land area of 28,000 hectares is served by public transportation. Added to this is the observation that traffic by privatelyowned vehicles is also very scarce if not absent at all. This lack of public and even private transportation supposedly to serve such a relatively vast area of land and the majority of the city's population is only but one effect of having inadequate barangay and/or farm-to-market roads which are presently in poor or bad condition, some of which have become impassable specially during the rainy season.

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Having poor or bad farm-to-market roads or barangay roads for 90% of the land area, has resulted to equally poor transportation and access; and this redounds to so much ill-effects in the socio-economic conditions of the city, most specially in agricultural production, which the city's economy relies on. This 90% of the land area is predominantly agricultural but the absence of adequate roads and transportation facilities practically hinders productivity, however much the government puts in and extends financial assistance and technical support to farmers. Left on their own, farm operators bear the burden of very high transportation costs in bringing their products to the end-buyers in the low land markets, thus they are constrained to sell their produce mostly to "middle men" buyers at a very low price. This situation does not offer much of an incentives to the farmers in terms of increasing their productivity and the quality of their farm products, which requires them to expend additional farm inputs and capital. This vicious cycle of inadequacy is envisioned to be broken by the provision of good barangay and farm-to-market roads. These roads will pave the way for adequate public transportation service which will also open new horizons of socio-economic activities for the area. School attendance for one, is seen to greatly improve if school children do not have to walk on foot for an hour or two hours to reach the school, and instead avail of a public transport whose operators will now be encouraged to improve their business and put in capital. In short, more production and movement of goods and services will be spurred which is the bottom line of introducing and bringing in growth and development. In short, where the road goes development follows.

Environment
With a total land area of 31,690 hectares, the territorial jurisdiction of Bais includes 2 islets: a barangay islet called Olympia Island (or pulong Diyot) around 2 kms offshore to the Northwest; and the bigger Dewey Island (or Pulong Dako which is composed of 3 barangays) to the east, which is very much nearer to the mainland; and is connected by a very short bridge over a narrow waterway, making it practically landllinked to the mainland. The presence of Dewey Island and the 264-ha. protected Talabong Mangrove Forest Adjacent to it, spreading southward, makes the coastal waters of Bais into two bays: the North Bais Bay (where Olympia Island is),and the South Bais Bay. The Bais Bay area holds a diversity of animal life and is a rich breading and fishing ground for demersal and over fish species and also invertebrates like sponges, mollusks, holothurians, sea urchins, crustaceans and corals. The Capiahan Wharf at South Bais Bay is the take-off point of the nationally famous Bais Dolphin Watching Tour.

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There are a total of 35 barangays comprising the city; 12 of which are coastal. Twelve (12) other barangays are on relatively low land (level to gently sloping) with elevation of 5-20 masl; and remaining eleven (11) are upland barangay to the west having slopes ranging from 18 to 30 and 50, with the highest elevation of 950 masl located in Barangay Sabahan. The upland barangays, however, comprise almost 80% of the total 31,960-ha land area of Bais. Only around 20% of the Bais area is considered lowland. Estimates of present actual land use place 25,173 hectares, representing almost 80% of the total land area, being devoted to agricultural use. Its 5,884 hectares of forest land is comprised of the following: woodland (with secondary growth cover)- 300 ha; shrubs and grasses/ denuded- 4,684 ha; pasture- 500 ha; and mangrove- 400 ha which are being maintained for fish sanctuaries wildlife preservation and buffer. A meager 109.12 hectares consist the existing urban area which covers Barangay 1 and II and portions of Talungon, Looc and Hangyad. However, this does not include the areas/ barangays which are in the stage of being integrated into the poblacion; and those agricultural areas which have been reclassified into non-agricultural zones under the land use and zoning ordinance of the City. Reclassified non-agricultural zones (i.e. residential, commercial, institutional and built-up/ other uses) cover 2,000 hectares or 8% of the existing agricultural area. Although the urbanized area is relatively small environmental pollution coming from this area is quite alarming. Agricultural and domestic liquid waste are the most important sources of pollution in Bais City (Paul 2002). Although the sugar mills provide a lower share of organic waste than the other sectors, they are the major point sources of liquid waste discharge. Hermans (1998) assumed that the removal efficiency of the WSPs fo the mills is relatively high. However, the environmental impacts in the North and South Bay almost every year question his findings. Therefore, the wastewater treatment facilities of the sugar mills should be subject of environmental monitoring and improvement. The other sources of liquid waste in Bais do not have comparable monitoring facilities and can not be inspected. For example, the septic tanks of many households are not controlled and if, how often and how they are emptied is unknown to the authorities. In addition, many households in the rural-lowland and upland barangays do not have adequate sanitation systems for liquid waste treatment. A further significant result of the waste load assessment is the contribution of organic waste of the aquacultural sector to the local pollution. The assumption that aquaculture does not contribute to local pollution is not valid.

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The agricultural sector is the largest source of liquid nutrient release. The widespread and regular application of chemical fertilizer has an important place within the sector and contributes 344 tons of nitrate load. The livestock in Bais, with more than 90,000 animals, generates almost 50,000 m3 urine every year which provided a nitrate load of 400 tons. The generated domestic liquid wastes ranks second regarding nutrient release. One of the main environmental impacts related to wastewater released from the mills is the hydrochemical interaction between loaded fresh water and marine waters of the Bays. Especially the reduction of sulfate to sulfide due to oxygen-depleted water that is released into brackish and marine waters may result in severe ecological pressure on the aquatic environment. Two further aspects of the liquid waste system are relevant regarding environmental impacts related to liquid waste generation and release. The first is the pollution potential for ground and surface water, which affects ground water reservoirs and marine environments in the long run and consequently has an impact on the resource stability of the North and South Bays. Secondly, the regular application of chemical fertilizer and pesticides on more than 19,000 hectares for agricultural production every year is a relevant environmental impact. This means unnatural input of nitrates, phosphates, potassium and pesticides into surface and ground waters. Depletion of oxygen in surface and ground water reservoirs can be expected the domestic liquid discharge of high BOD-concentrations cause regular punctual impacts at he outlets of the water treatment plants of the sugar mills. Pollution coming from solid wastes is expected to abate with the impending closure of the Talungon Open Dumpsite and full operationalization of the Cambanjao Sanitary Landfill. The City is still completing the site development of q 12-ha lot at Brgy. Cambanjao to serve as sanitary landfill area which also includes a 1-ha area to be developed as a Materials Recovery Facility which would allow the implementation of materials recovery, wastes segregation, composting and other recycling technologies. The main environmental impact on air is related to the still practiced burning of sugarcane trash after harvest. These involve more than 9,000 hectares of sugarland. This is presently the form of tests and research on recycling options that could avoid trash burning thru the production of organic fertilizer by composting and production of fodder/silage out of agricultural wastes. One other environmentally critical area in the city is the Tindog Bato Watershed which locates the highest elevation of 950 meters at sea level (masl) specifically in Brgy. Sabahan. This 10,000- ha watershed is the victim of forest denudation with only 5% forest cover left. 21

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This problem on denudation is also being experienced in an area of 7,200 hectares of hills and mountains with slopes ranging from 18 to 50% and 6,000 hectares of mountains with slopes above 50% Denuded forests are primarily the cause of siltation of the Bais Bay (32 tons of sediment load per day brought by rivers emptying into the bay), mainly by the major river system that flows out towards and traverses by Brgy. Tamogong going to the southernmost edge of the poblacion area before emptying out to the bay. This major river is called Tamogong River, which is usually the channel of flood waters in the poblacion area particularly Sitio San Jose and other adjacent areas during heavy rains at high tide. Supposedly the City is blessed with an 8,430-ha coastal bay area which is the biggest and most productive estuarine area in Taon Strait ( Taon Strait Commission/ ENR Consultants), possibly contributing to the high plankton productivity in the southern strait. The high large number of marine mammals siting (10 species of dolphins) and relatively high plankton biomass in the area attest to this. Bais Bay is the habitat of 575 species of flora and fauna; and its ecosystem includes 250 hectares of mangrove and 3,200 hectares of coral reefs. All these, however, is suffering from pollution caused by liquid wastes from the abattoir, waste from aquaculture/fish farms/cages, chemical/ agricultural run-off, waste waster effluents from the two sugar centrals and domestic wastes aside from siltation and over fishing/ over exploitation.

Finance
REVENUE PROFILE
The IRA is the main source of revenue. On the average, for 5-year period, 1997-2001, Internal Revenue Allotment amounted to 89.78% of the Annual budget. This trend may continue in the next 5 years since the existing tax ordinance should be revisited. The city is IRA dependent and this fact may continue in the next 5 years if no new measures are implemented. There are areas in the sector of local sources, which has room for improvement such as the Business taxes and Fees and charges. There should however be administrative and legislative actions to be taken. The fact that all fees and taxes were embodied in an ordinance made the structure rigid. It could be partly due to some administrative lapses. 22

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EXPENDITURE PROFILE
The sectors of General Public Service; Health, Nutrition and Population Control; and Economic Services got the bulk of the city's expenditures for the period, 19972001 with average shared of 41.65%, 7.13% and 33.01% respectively. This could be attributed to the fact that the city's populace is still dependent on the local government in many aspects and the fact that our economic enterprises are still struggling to deliver net income. This trend may continue in the next 2-5 years with slight changes if no interventions will be instituted. The General Public Services sector showed rapid growt while that of the Housing and Community Development sector decreased. In 1997 Personal Services (PS) , MOOE and Capital Outlay got 38%, 48% and 18% respectively while in 2001 the sharing was 45.28%, 39.46% and 15.26%. Expenditures in the PS class has a sustained growth which may be attributed to the city's compliance with mandated salary increases. Except for 1997 the city always experienced a budgetary surplus. This is because of the economy measures implemented by the city. First and foremost, the main sources of local revenue of the City of Bais in the years 1997 to 2001 would include Real Property Taxes, Business Taxes, Fees and Charges and various Economic Enterprises such as the Market and Slaughterhouse, Hotel, Pumpboat rentals from whale and dolphin expeditions and sale of farm products specifically at the City Agriculture Office. The revenue trend of the city by far can be safely be described as fair while city officials firmly advocate for economic self-reliance especially with the passage of the Omnibus Tax Code of 1998 which served as a guiding light in the sound implementation of taxes, fees and charges. Moreover, Bais Tax has increased for 1% to 1.5% still due to the existence of the said tax code while it is projected to augment even more in the next 2-5 years on account of the recently concluded General Revision of Real Property Units pursuant to Sec. 219 or R.A. 7160 otherwise known as the Local Government Code of 1991. Apart from the presence of the different sources of income stated above, the City of Bais still partakes a considerable slice of the Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA) from the National Government, although the city does not rest its laurels on the latter due to the fact that the national government occasionally falters in its consistency in the amount and the remittance of the same. It is for this reason that a decrease in the amount of 7.72% from the total income of the City of Bais was experienced in the year 2001 due to the decrease of IRA but nevertheless, all the other sources of income performed satisfactorily as expected.

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The City Treasurer's Office however, felt that there is still more room for improvement that is why efforts are still geared towards efficiency in local revenue collection. Tax campaign and tax mapping are just some of the measures that are being undertaken to maximize revenue generation. General Public Services and Economic services ranked as the areas which had the highest bulk of city expenditures in 1997 to 2001 while the trend is expected to continue in the next 2-5 years (refer to Expenditure Profile by Function/Sector for the years 1997-2001 which is hereto attached in the Annex Table 2. Allocation of Funds 1997-2001) Presented below is a comprehensive presentation of the allocation of funds according to its classification of years 1997 and 2001 The hiring of Casual Employees is a factor among others that affect the increase in Personal Services (PS) on account that manpower is a salient consideration in a growing city like Bais. Expenditures are highly dependent on the actual income that the City of Bais gathers from local and national sources so as not to cause an unlikely occurrence of budget overdraft.

Governance
The local government organization as in most LGUs is floated in the number of personnel as it has exceeded the Personal Services (PS) limitations of 55-45 of its regular annual budget. There are a total of 357 regular/permanent employees, 90 casual employees and 543 on contractual employees alone incurred an annual budget of P86,560,353.54 or 45.28% of the total budget for the year 2001. Because of its excess in the annual budget, the LGU is very much constrained with issues on lack of personnel promotions, position upgrading and hiring/ appointments to meet the need for an increasing demand for professional expertise in the field of technical work. Added to this is the prevailing issue on red tape, lengthening transactions and poor service delivery, manpower redundancy and low employee performance. Another concern is the lack of skills upgrading among personnel specially in automated information technology specially among senior employees and officers in charge of sections and departments. Most of the Personnel manning office automation are casual employees without permanent employment status, thus there is no permanency in the manpower component of such government operations.

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