The Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, yesterday, decried the insufficient annual budgetary provisions to the housing sector, saying that the trend was inimical to timely completion of projects on schedule.
Fashola stated this at the National Assemblycomplex, Abuja, when he led the management team of the housing sector of the Ministry to defend the budget of the sector with the Senate Committee on Housing.
“Major factor affecting this Sector of the Ministry and over all issues of timely completion of projects on schedule or ahead of schedule is insufficient budgetary provision to sustain annual cash flow requirement to meet desired targets as stipulated in the planning stages of all projects”, he said.
On the 2020 budget proposal for the housing sector, he noted that the sum of N60, 877,799,984.00 (Sixty billion, eight hundred and seventy seven million, seven hundred and ninety nine thousand, nine hundred and eighty four naira) only was proposed for the Housing Sector of the Ministry as the total capital allocation for the fiscal year.
The Minister also noted that the sum of N118, 881,182.99 was the proposed overhead cost for the housing sector in 2020. Similarly, Fashola pointed out that the Personnel cost proposal for the Housing Sector in 2020 financial year was N4, 418,829,837.00.
Other estimates he gave on the housing budget are Public Building and Housing Development, N31,618,696,939.49; Urban and Regional Development N1,981,023,680.87, and Lands and Housing development, N1,603,995,467.48.
According to him, Engineering Services will gulp N4,019,612,974.39; Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Slum upgrading progammes, Construction of classroom blocks, Primary healthcare centres, constructionof Skills Acquisition Centres and motorized/ solar bore holes – N19,940,879,993.83, among others.
Source: Excluding headline (newtelegraphng)
