Local Government Fragmentation in Peru The Challenges for Land Governance and Territorial Planning

Transcription

1 Local Government Fragmentation in Peru The Challenges for Land Governance and Territorial Planning Ferreyros, Martha and Pantoja, Enrique Paper prepared for presentation at the 2017 WORLD BANK CONFERENCE ON LAND AND POVERTY The World Bank - Washington DC, March 20-24, 2017 Copyright 2017 by author(s). All rights reserved. Readers may make verbatim copies of this document for non-commercial purposes by any means, provided that this copyright notice appears on all such copies. 1

2 Abstract The paper s objective is to outline measures to help promote the merging of sparsely populated, mostly unviable municipal governments at the district level in Peru. This would help make local government more efficient, particularly in districts with population of 3,800 people or less, which is the minimum required by law to establish a local jurisdiction. Currently, the weak capacity of such small jurisdictions negatively affect land governance, and service provision. This paper analyzes the factors affecting the lack of administrative capacity and for service provision in small district-level municipalities. On the one hand, many of these municipalities have been established for political and electoral reasons, seeking to benefit from central government transfers and sectoral investments. On the other, these municipalities have multiplied as a response to the still highly centralized decision making and the lack of attention to local needs. Overtime, such proliferation of local jurisdictions have resulted in unclear boundary demarcation, weak capacity for territorial planning and local development, related to lack of cadastre and geospatial information. These factors result in poor land management and almost inexistent property tax collection. Key Words Local Government Fragmentation, Land Governance, Territorial Planning 2

3 Local Government Fragmentation in Peru: The Challenges for Land Governance and Territorial Planning 1. Introduction A critical issue for land governance and territorial planning is the fragmentation of local jurisdictions and its implications for raising revenue and delivering services. Recognizing this issue, the paper s objective is to outline measures to help promote the merging of sparsely populated, mostly unviable municipal governments at the district level in Peru. 1 This would help make local government more efficient, particularly in districts with population of 3,800 people or less, which is the minimum required by national law to establish a local jurisdiction. The paper analyzes the factors affecting the lack of administrative capacity and poor service provision in small district-level municipalities. Many of these municipalities have been established, on the one hand, for political and electoral reasons, seeking to benefit from central government transfers and sectoral investments; and on the other, as a response to centralized decision making and lack of attention to local needs. Centralism in Peru takes place at each level of government, from the national to the regional level, from the regional to the province level, and from the province to the district level, and quite often from the district level to the smaller centers. Not surprisingly, many communities find it necessary to establish their own level of local government to get their voices heard and gain more direct access to resources. 2. Methodology The paper s methodology consists of a review of primary and secondary information from official and academic sources, as well as interviews with key actors of strategic planning for national development and advocates for the consolidation of the decentralization process in Peru. The universe for the analysis includes the 841 small district-level municipal governments, which represent 45 percent of the country s total. These jurisdictions are characterized by a small number of inhabitants and very low density (3,800 or less inhabitants), which makes it challenging for them 1 Peru has 25 regional governments and 1,874 local jurisdictions, of which 196 are provincial municipal governments and 1,678 are district municipal governments. 3

4 to provide adequate services and to administer land and the territory. Moreover, the analysis will include cases of provinces where all districts have less than 3,800 inhabitants. Specifically, the review included: (a) Review of analytical work on the effects of a local jurisdiction s size on its service delivery and administrative capacity, as well as the general effects of local government fragmentation on territorial planning and land governance. Specific articles reviewed include an analysis of municipalities in Brazil (Correa Gomes, R., Alfinito, S., Melo Alburqueque, P.H., 2013). This analysis considers that municipal fragmentation, and the reduced size of jurisdictions, influences the effectiveness of the local government, and recommends the merging of small municipalities. Another relevant article focuses on Ghana (Kuyini Mohammed, A, 2015), and the correspondence between decentralization efforts and local government fragmentation. In addition, a recent report by the World Bank (2016) noted the low capacity of local governments for revenue collection, and heavy dependence on central government s transfers. (b) Review of the current legal framework which mandates that sub-national governments at the district and province levels guarantee adequate administrative and service delivery capacity. Moreover, it stipulates a minimum population size to ensure efficient use of public resources. At the same time, there are laws and regulations that aim to promote through incentives the merging of small local governments, or association in groups called mancomunidades. It is expected that merging, or at least association would help strengthen their capacity (see Table 1) (c) Review of reports from the national Congress, issued by the Decentralization Commission at the end of each legislative period to evaluate the progress and results achieved in the decentralization process, (Congreso de la República ; ). In general, these reports have identified the ongoing territorial fragmentation of the country, resulting in local jurisdictions whose population size tend to limit their capacity for an efficient government. Increased fragmentation has continued despite the existence of the legal framework mentioned above, and the efforts to promote merging or association of local governments. (d) Review of information and data from key public institutions such as the National Institute for Statistics and Data (INEI), the National Directorate for Territorial Demarcation (DNDT), and the National Center for Strategic Planning (CEPLAN). CEPLAN in particular has conducted 4

5 research on small local governments in Peru (CEPLAN 2016) that includes information on the number of small local jurisdictions, the magnitude and implications of the fragmentation issue, and recommendations on ways to address it. 3. Background The country s total area is 1,285,200 square kilometers and its population of over 31 million is mostly urban (77%). Lima, the capital city, concentrates 30% of the total country s population. Perú is a unitary government, with a decentralized structure (Congreso de la República, 1993) that includes 25 regions, 196 provinces and 1,678 districts. Provinces are comprised of districts, which are administered by municipalities the main district in a province by a province-level municipality, and each of the remaining districts by a district-level municipality. The decentralization process in Peru has so far not shown the expected results. This process, started in 2002, transferred competencies and resources to sub-national governments, without commensurate capacity building. Decentralization and regionalization sought to foster sub-national governments able to take the lead and implement efforts to achieve more inclusive development across the national territory. In contrast, there has been a fragmentation of this territory, with the multiplication of local governments, especially of district municipal governments whose scale and capacity poses very difficult challenges for an efficient local administration. There are currently 1,874 municipal governments. Of this total, 841 (the universe of study for this paper) have populations of less than 3,800. As a whole, these 841 small municipalities include close to 1.5 million people (5 percent of the country s population) while covering 318,879 km2 25% of the national territory). Interestingly, 204 of these municipalities have less than 1,000 inhabitants, and 50 have less than 500 inhabitants. In addition, the average population density of small municipalities is inhabitants per km2, while the national average is 428 inhabitants per km2. Out of these 841 municipalities, 24 have a population density of less than one inhabitant per km2. As made evident from the above figures, these municipalities are characterized in general by a low number of dispersed population, with major constraints regarding efficient local administration, revenue generation, land administration and management, and general service provision. Overall, these municipalities depend heavily on fiscal transfers and sectoral investments from the central government. An example of this situation is the district municipality of San Jose de Ushua in 5

6 Ayacucho, which only has 177 inhabitants. For the most part, this municipality functions with resources transferred by the central government due to its inability to raise revenues by itself. 4. Analysis The analysis will focus on small municipalities with populations below 3,800. The analysis will cover: (a) issues of agglomerations versus fragmentation; (b) the relevant legal framework; (c) the situation in district-level jurisdictions; (d) trends related to the establishment of districts; and (e) efficiency of the creation and collection of local taxes and other revenue sources. (a) Aglomeración versus la fragmentación Based on the literature review, particularly the cases of Brazil and Ghana, it may be stated that merging or further fragmenting local jurisdictions depends on a country s approach to territorial planning and development. Critically, further fragmentation may affect the administrative and serviced provision capacity of municipalities, and their viability in the long term. The objective of a territorial strategy should seek to achieve a rational and functional spatial organization characterized by sub-national governments that can administer its territory and provide services to their constituencies in an adequate way, fiscally and socially. The major challenge then is to find a structure of local governance that balances the closeness to local communities with administrative and service provision viability and effectiveness. In Brazil s case, (Correa Gomes, et al, 2013) territorial fragmentation has resulted in municipalities that are quite small in size, similar to the situation in Peru. For the most part, these municipalities have been administratively ineffective given their low capacity, unfeasibility of generating enough local revenues, coupled with often costlier service provision. Consequently, it has been recognized that creating small local jurisdictions to enhance accountability to citizens and facilitate territorial development has resulted in challenges for local administration and service provision, as well as for overall governance. Many of these small municipalities are heavily dependent on fiscal transfers from the central government. In this respect, Brazil has promoted the merging of small municipalities to generate economies of scale and improve the use of public resources. In Ghana s case, (Kuyini Mohammed, A, 2015) fragmentation of sub-national governments was approached as a positive aspect of decentralization. The analysis focuses in this case on the political 6

7 factors influencing fragmentation vis-à-vis agglomeration of local governments. In countries, such as Ghana, fragmentation into small local jurisdictions has been seen as a means to decentralize power, authority and resources, and the assumption that in the long term fragmentation will help drive local governance and development. In Ghana, specifically, the decentralization process resulted, between1988 and 2012, in an increase in the number of local governments from 65 to 215. With respect to Peru, fragmentation has affected local government s capacity for administration, revenue generation and collection, and service delivery. According to the World Bank (2016), most of the decentralized functions are financed by transfers by the national governments. Moreover, local governments tend to have limited capacity to raise revenues. Specifically,. district-level municipalities have been assigned the property tax and the alcabala tax (for real estate sales), for which they need to have a solid collection capacity and to maintain up-to-date cadastral and property information. Since they are not able to do this, property tax collection in Peru is about 0.17% of GDP This percentage is one of the lowest in Latin America. In addition to the low level of revenue collection, municipalities face challenges using the taxes collected effectively for service provision at the local level. Interestingly, the findings from the World Bank s report focus on intermediate cities, and as this paper shows, the situation is even more acute in Peru s small municipalities with less than 3,800 inhabitants. Few municipalities in Peru can fulfill other key responsibilities assigned to them. According to the Organic Law of Municipalities, and the tax codes, all of the 1,874 municipalities, regardless of their size, are responsible for, inter alia, land use regulation, local development planning, and urban and rural cadasters. Municipalities are directly responsible for the former, and with support from the Ministry of Agriculture and the Regional Government, for the latter. Specifically on tax collection, the municipalities are responsible for collecting certain local taxes categorized as determined resources, which are regulated by ministries such as the Ministry of Economy (for taxes on structures) and Finance and the Ministry of Housing (for taxes on urban land). The responsibility for formalization of informal properties was delegated to municipalities, but they have so far not taken a leading role in this respect. To date, COFOPRI, the national formalization agency, has been implementing systematic formalization activities. Lack of cadaster and property information is a major constraint for municipalities to fulfill responsibilities related to development plans within the framework of territorial planning, and to property tax collection. For the most part, in the small municipalities, the capacity for land 7

8 administration is inexistent. As with other functions, development and maintenance of cadastre was assigned to local governments without ensuring adequate capacity and control and supervision mechanisms. (b) Review of the Relevant Legal Framework The current legal framework related to the structure of sub-national governments is weak and inconsistent (see Table 1 below). According to this legal framework, the minimum population to create a district in Peru is 3,800 people for the Sierra region, 4,000 for the Coastal region, and 12,000 for the Amazon region. The law and regulations to promote the merging of District-level municipalities was introduced to mitigate fragmentation. However, new districts continue to be created that do not meet the minimum population level required, and often have a negative population growth rate. Contradictory, there are other laws such as the Law of Territorial Demarcation that tend to promote the creation of new districts for reasons of national interest, the potential for a future project, or simply by a political decision. The law to promote the merging of municipalities have not been so successful in part because municipalities are encouraged to do this voluntarily. The law does not provide for decisions to compel the merging of local jurisdictions based on technical or policy-based reasons that would help improve the decentralization process, or improve the capacity of local governments for administration and service provision. Once the municipalities have been created, its authority s elected, and public resources allocated, it is very difficult to encourage these authorities and their constituency to give up their local power and access to central government resources. (c) Review of the Situation in District-level Municipalities Out of a total of 1,874 districts across 196 provinces, Peru has 841 districts in 164 provinces that have a total population below 3,800. This figure represents 45% of all districts, and includes more than 1.5 million people (5% of the total population) and 324,722 square kilometers (25% of the national territory). Table 2 provides details of these districts. As shown in Graph 1, 164 provinces of Peru have at least one district with population below 3,800. In this case, the province-level municipalities are often unable to ensure coordination with, and 8

9 support the district-level municipalities and the smaller towns. Moreover, province-level municipalities do not take into consideration the other local governments when allocating resources within the province. As a result, communities feel the need to create their own districts to have more power for decision making, and importantly access to fiscal transfers from the central government. Representing a most extreme case of fragmentation, Graph 2 shows a map of the country by province, and highlights the 15 provinces where the totality of their districts have a population below 3,800. The districts included in these provinces total 149. More critically, most of the 841 districts (45% of total districts) that have less than 3,800 people are unable to fulfill its own administrative functions. As a result, many of these districts have outsourced these functions to private firms that often are not located in the same province or even the same region where these districts are located. Of the 164 provinces where we find the districts with population below 3,800, 90 provinces have at least one district with outsourced accounting services (see Graph 3). To provide a more in depth understanding, the paper analyzed two provinces of the universe of 164 provinces where all their districts have population below 3,800. These are Paucar del Sara Sara Province in Ayacucho Region, and Yauyos Province in Lima Region. Paucar del Sara Sara has 10 districts with population below 3,800, and also includes the district with the lower number of inhabitants in the country. This district is San Jose de Ushua, with a population of 177 (see table 3 and graph 4). Yauyos Province has 33 districts with population below 3,800, while containing the largest number of this type of districts nationally (see table 4 and graph 5). (d) Trends related to the Establishment of Districts Fragmentation continues to increase in Peru. Seven new districts were created in 2016, and four of these districts have less than 3,800 inhabitants (Table 5). There are currently 23 proposals for new districts in Congress, most of which are in the later stages of review. In addition, there are 28 potential proposals to create new districts that are in its early processing stages. (e) Efficiency of the Generation and Collection of Local and other Revenue Sources. 9

10 For this part of the analysis, the paper focuses on the province of Paucar de Sara Sara and its municipalities. As shown in Table 6, these municipalities depend heavily on fiscal transfers from the central government, as is the general tendency across small municipalities in the country. The main transference mechanism is the national compensation fund for municipalities (). These municipalities are unable to raise local taxes, particularly the property tax and the alcabala (real state sales tax), which is also a good proxy to understand the dynamism of the property market within their jurisdiction. At the same time, these municipalities are unable to raise revenues from fees and services such as issuing of business licenses and building permits, which also indicate weak urban economic development potential. (see Table 6) 5. Final Discussion and Conclusions Studies in Peru have focused on Lima and other intermediate cities, while 45 percent of municipal governments due to the increasing fragmentation of local jurisdictions have small populations, weak administrative capacity and low prospects of managing their territories in a sustainable way. For these municipalities, land administration is a major challenge, especially since they include within their territories indigenous and peasant communities and lack information on land tenure and land uses. Accordingly, this paper s analysis indicates the following: An effort to reduce the existing fragmentation should be undertaken, in order to ensure a more adequate decentralization process, which can actually foster sustainable development process based on sound territorial planning and good land governance It is critical to stop the creation of districts which do not meet the requirements established by the current legal framework. Moreover, it is advisable to review the minimum population level established to create districts, in light of the existing evidence that higher populations may be needed in Peru to ensure viable local governments. The Law for the Promotion of Merging of District-Level Municipalities should be strengthened, focusing on technical and policy-based requirements for its implementation rather than voluntary participation by municipalities. 10

11 In the medium to long term, Peru should consider the following actions to deal with the fragmentation of local governments: Concentrate the administration of groups of small district level municipalities in the province-level municipality, while ensuring adequate capacity at this level. Implement pilot projects in the two provinces analyzed in the paper, namely Paucar del Sara Sara and Yauyos, or similar ones, and ensure that these projects have adequate monitoring and evaluation mechanisms to learn from them. The pilots could promote the merging of municipalities through incentives included in, and on the basis of the existing legal framework. These incentives could be increased in order to foster the participation of the municipalities. Specifically, the central government could offer additional resources for a fiscal year, while establishing a system for close follow up and expert support and advice. Based on the results and lessons learned from the pilots, a capacity development plan should be prepared aimed at scaling up the experience in a larger number of small districts. 11

12 DISPOSITIVO LEGAL NOMBRE CONTENIDO PRINCIPAL Ley Ley de Demarcación y Organización Territorial 2002 DS PCM Reglamento de la Ley Ley Table 1: Legal framework Ley de Promoción para la Fusión de Municipios Distritales 2007 DS EF Reglamento de la Ley / DS EF 2008 : Fondo Comun Municipal / transferred to Municipalities definir circunscripciones territoriales de nivel distrital, provincial y departamental, que garanticen el ejercicio del gobierno y la administración El volumen de la población total [...] estará asociado a las perspectivas de desarrollo regional, que involucren un adecuado manejo de los recursos, [ ] Para la Costa mayor a 12,000 habitantes; Para la Sierra mayor a 3,800 habitantes; Para la Selva mayor a 4,000 habitantes. [ ] la fusión de los distritos permita [ ] tamaños de circunscripciones adecuados para la gestión pública, eleve la calidad de los servicios públicos [ ] La fusión como lineamiento territorial está orientada [...] al fortalecimiento de la administración del Estado para la gestión del desarrollo local y regional con la finalidad de mejorar las condiciones de vida de la población[ ]Implementación del incentivo especial del para municipios Distritales fusionados[...] N REGION Table 2: Peru: Number of Provinces and Districts by Region with population <3,800 inhabitants TOTAL Provinces with Districts < 3,800 inhabitants TOTAL DISTRITOS TOTAL DISTRITOS < TACNA ANCASH LIMA AYACUCHO LORETO ICA APURIMAC MADRE DE DIOS AREQUIPA LA LIBERTAD HUANCAVELICA TUMBES HUANUCO CAJAMARCA SAN MARTIN PUNO JUNIN CUSCO MOQUEGUA AMAZONAS PASCO UCAYALI PIURA LAMBAYEQUE CALLAO , Source: Instituto Nacional de Estadistica e Informatica - INEI / en Base a poblacion proyecta al 2015

13 Graph 1 PROVINCES OF PERU: With at least one district < 3,800 inhabitants Source: Centro Nacional de Planeamiento Estratégico - CEPLAN - Perú

14 Graph 2 PROVINCES OF PERU: Provinces with all district < 3,800 inhabitants Source: Centro Nacional de Planeamiento Estratégico - CEPLAN - Perú

15 Graph 3 PROVINCES OF PERU: With at least one district with external service Source: Centro Nacional de Planeamiento Estratégico - CEPLAN - Perú

16 Table 3: Ayacucho Region - Province Paucar del Sara Sara Census 2007: Total Population - Urban - Rural Country Region Provinces Districts Total Urban area Rural area Pais Región Provincia Distrito Total Área Urbana Área Rural San José de Ushua San Javier de Alpabamba Corculla Perú Ayacucho Páucar del Sara Sara Pararca Marcabamba Colta Sara Sara Oyolo 1, Lampa 2,473 1, Pausa 3,050 2, Source: Instituto Nacional de Estadistica e Informatica - INEI - Perú Graph 4: Ayacucho Region - Province Paucar del Sara Sara District capital of Province Smallest District in the Country DISTRITO PAUSA PROVINCIA PAUCAR DEL SARA SARA DEPARTAMENTO AYACUCHO DISTRITO SAN JOSE DE USHUA PROVINCIA PAUCAR DEL SARA SARA DEPARTAMENTO AYACUCHO All Districts < 3,800 inhabitants Source: Instituto Nacional de Estadistica e Informatica - INEI - Perú Majority of Districts with Outsourced Services

17 Table 4: Lima Region - Province Yauyos Census 2007: Total Population - Urban - Rural Country Region Provinces Districts Total Urban area Rural area Pais Región Provincia Distrito Total Área Urbana Área Rural Huampara Cochas San Joaquín Carania San Pedro de Pilas Hongos Miraflores Putinza Huañec Tanta Vitis Cacra Tauripampa Azángaro Quinocay Tupe Perú Lima Yauyos Omas Huangáscar Ayaviri Lincha Madean Huantán Laraos Huancaya 1, Quinches 1, Chocos 1, Tomas 1, Catahuasi 1, Colonia 1, Alis 1, ,321 Ayauca 1, ,203 Viñac 1, ,228 Yauyos 2,698 2, Source: Instituto Nacional de Estadistica e Informatica - INEI - Perú

18 Graph 5: Lima Region - Province Yauyos Capital of Province < 3,800 inhabitants Negative population rate DISTRITO YAUYOS PROVINCIA YAUYOS DEPARTAMENTO LIMA DISTRITO TANTA PROVINCIA YAUYOS DEPARTAMENTO LIMA All Districts < 3,800 inhabitants Source: Instituto Nacional de Estadistica e Informatica - INEI - Perú Majority of Districts with Outsourced Services

19 Table 5 : Laws for Establishment of Districts 2016 N REGION PROVICE DISTRICT UBIGEO LAW DATE <3,800 HAB =>3,800 HAB 1 HUANUCO LEONCIO PRADO PUEBLO NUEVO /05/2016 3,300 2 HUANCAVELICA TAYACAJA SANTIAGO DE TUCUMA /05/2016 2,167 3 APURÍMAC CHINCHEROS LOS CHANKAS /05/2016 6,354 4 AYACUCHO LA MAR ORONCCOY /05/2016 3,256 5 CUSCO LA CONVENCIÓN MEGANTONI /06/ ,515 6 HUÁNUCO LEONCIO PRADO SANTO DOMINGO DE ANDA /07/2016 3,500 7 PUNO SAN ROMÁN SAN MIGUEL /07/ ,948 Source: Dirección Nacional de Demarcación Territorial - DNDT - Perú - Territorial demarcation entity

20 PROVINCIA PAUCAR DEL SARA SARA Provincial Municipality Paucar del Sara Sara District Municipality Colta District Municipality Corculla District Municipality Lampa Table 6: Ayacucho Region - Province Paucar del Sara Sara Numbert in Soles / 3.50 Soles = 1 dolar District Municipality Marcabamba District Municipality Oyolo District Municipality Pararca District Municipality San Javier de Alpabamba District Municipality San Jose de Ushua District Municipality Sara Sara Budget and Revenue Sources / For the 10 Districts Local revenue from fees and services Local revenue for Local revenue from fees and services Local revenue for Local revenue from fees and services Local revenue for Local revenue from fees and services Local revenue for Local revenue from fees and services Local revenue for Local revenue from fees and services Local revenue for Local revenue from fees and services Local revenue for Local revenue from fees and services Local revenue for Local revenue from fees and services Local revenue for Local revenue from fees and services Local revenue for transferred to Municipalities 4,668,727 4,667,329 4,710,643 4,740,489 4,373,285 Housing and Construction Administrative 2,770 5,602 4,250 2,540 1,685 Property Tax 31,048 54,386 36, ,009 Property sales Tax ,221 transferred to Municipalities 1,005,995 1,031, , ,582 1,001,351 Housing and Construction Administrative 1,340 4, ,000 Property Tax 29,663 54,386 36,655 60,631 46,115 Property sales Tax ,221 transferred to Municipalities 380, , , , ,900 Housing and Construction Administrative Property Tax Property sales Tax transferred to Municipalities 376, , , , ,624 Housing and Construction Administrative Property Tax Property sales Tax transferred to Municipalities 432, , , ,978 Housing and Construction Administrative Property Tax Property sales Tax transferred to Municipalities 349, , , Housing and Construction Administrative Property Tax Property sales Tax transferred to Municipalities 435, , ,174 Housing and Construction Administrative Property Tax Property sales Tax transferred to Municipalities 447, , ,442 Housing and Construction Administrative Property Tax 1, ,894 Property sales Tax transferred to Municipalities 375,519 36, ,957 Housing and Construction Administrative Property Tax Property sales Tax transferred to Municipalities 437, , ,250 Housing and Construction Administrative Property Tax Property sales Tax transferred to Municipalities 427, , ,381 Local revenue from Housing and Construction fees and services Administrative Local revenue for Property Tax Property sales Tax : Fondo Comun Municipal / transferred to Municipalities Source: Ministerio de Economia y Finanzas

21 References Banco Mundial (2016) PERÚ: Hacia un Sistema Integrado de Ciudades. Nueva visión para crecer. Congreso de la República (1993) Constitución Política del Perú de 1993 Congreso de la República ( ) Evaluación del Proceso de Descentralización Informe Anual de la Comisión de Descentralización, Regionalización, Gobiernos Locales y Modernización de la Gestión del Estado. Periodo Legislativo Congreso de la República ( ) Evaluación del Proceso de Descentralización Informe Anual de la Comisión de Descentralización, Regionalización, Gobiernos Locales y Modernización de la Gestión del Estado. Periodo Legislativo Correa Gomes, R., Alfinito, S., Melo Alburqueque, PH (2013). Analyzing Local Government Financial Performance: Evidence from Brazilian Municipalities Universidade de Brasília PPGA/UnB Campus Universitário Darcy Ribeiro, ICC Norte, Subsolo, Módulo 25, , Brasília, DF, Brasil: Instituto Nacional de Estadística e Informática del Perú (s.f.) Sistema de consultas de información de los Censos nacionales. Portal web: Instituto Nacional de Estadística e Informática del Perú (s.f.) Sistema de consultas de información de Población Portal web: Kuyini Mohammed, A. (2015). The politics of municipal fragmentation in Ghana, published by The Department of Political Science University of Ghana. Law (2002) Ley de Demarcación y Organización Territorial. Law (2007) Ley de Promoción para la Fusión de Municipios Distritales Law (2003) Ley Orgánica de Municipalidades del Perú Reglamento de la Ley (2008) Decreto Supremo DS EF Reglamento de la Ley (2003) Decreto Supremo DS PCM