THE Commissioner for Economic Planning in Delta, Dr Kingsley Emu, says that abandoned projects would not be entertained in the 2019 budget of the state.

Emu stated this at the state’s budget defence meeting for 2019 fiscal year on Friday in Asaba.

He said that the Gov. Ifeanyi Okowa administration in the state had in the last few years, ensured that no abandoned project was left behind.

“It is customary to have a budget defence session as part of budgeting and we started quarterly collation of performances since April to look at where we are.

“We had an expanded session in July, where the template which contained the details of the proposed budget was distributed to all Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs).

“The essence of all these was to ensure that all projects from the inception of this administration, which still has about 25 per cent payment outstanding, are fully captured in the 2019 proposed budget,’’ he said.

The Commissioner also said that the 2019 proposed budget was about N363.5 billion, made up of N202 billion for Capital Expenditure and N160.5 billion for Recurrent Expenditure.

He said that about 60 per cent of the budget provision was for old and existing debts.

According to him, the major projects such as the new state secretariat under construction, the storm water drainage and the Asaba Airport project, which had a life span of one year, must come into the 2019 budget under special arrangement.

“The state governor has the prerogative to intervene in major projects across the state and he has his vote for that,’’ he said.

Emu also said that in the last three and half years, the state government had started the process of addressing some of the items on the legacy debt.

He explained that the essence of that was to ensure that the state paid for what it could afford, adding that some of the items on the legacy debt might not fit into the state’s needs. (NAN)

– Aug. 31, 2018 @ 17:25 GMT |