Fashola Defends Works Ministry’s N283bn Budget

MINISTER of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, told the Senate yesterday that the major factor militating against the timely completion of projects in the works sector was insufficient budgetary provision for projects to sustain annual cash flow requirement levels.

The Minister also called on the Senate to approve the draft tolling policy, saying that would create an enabling environment for concessioning of some of the nation’s dual carriageways to private investors for maintenance.
Speaking yesterday in Abuja when he appeared before the Senator Kabiru Gaya-led Committee on Works to defend his ministry’s budget, the Minister said that of the N260,082,997,390 budgeted last year as capital allocation for works, only N139,000,000,000, representing 53.4 per cent, was released.

According to him, of the overhead cost of N572,970,849 budgeted in 2016, the sum of N338,711,291.26 was released for works between January and September, 2016, representing 59.1 percent.