Parliament has expressed discontent in government’s commitment to improving the Works and Housing sector following what it describes as meagre budgetary allocation for the sector for the year 2021.
This was revealed during the consideration of a report by parliament’s committee on works and housing before the House went on recess.
In all, an amount of ¢175,046,585 was approved for the Ministry of Works and Housing, which has been described as insufficient and amounts to a paltry 4% of the total budget allocation for the infrastructure sector.
While the Ministries of Roads and Highways had an allocation of 47% and the Railway Development Ministry got 13%, the Transport and Sanitation and Water Resources Ministries were given 12% and 8% respectively.
This, according to the MPs is woefully inadequate for the execution of the ministry’s mandate especially as the President has declared Affordable Housing as a priority.
Chairman of the Committee, Isaac Asiamah, said the challenges faced by the ministry are enormous and would not be addressed by such a meager amount.
He said further, that major initiatives including tackling floods, coastal protection and advancing on government’s priority affordable housing projects, among others makes the job a herculean one. He, therefore made an appeal to the finance ministry to reconsider and add up to the budgetary allocation for the Ministry.
For his part, ranking member of the committee, Vincent Oppong Asamoah, reiterated the need for an increase in the budgetary allocation due to the ministry’s already existing debt of over one billion Ghana Cedis.
He explained that the ministry’s budget allocation for 2020 was over ¢226 million which made expectations for the year 2021 even higher.
Also, he added that various sod cutting activities within the ministry had taken place and needed significant funds, to execute.
Davis Opoku Ansah in his brief remarks added that, the sector minister has innovative ideas which needs to be supported by all stakeholders.
He, therefore, admonished the finance ministry to consider additional funding for the sector in the mid-year supplementary budget.
It would be recalled that President Akufo-Addo in his State of the Nation address to parliament earlier this year, noted that rolling out of mass affordable housing was government’s priority.
It was, therefore, expected, that enough resource allocation will be made available to the Sector to see to the success of the project.
Latest Stories
-
OSP only gave EOCO a narrow remit to investigate money laundering – A-G
6 mins -
Ghana’s Osman Bukari wins second successive Serbian Super League title with Red Star
8 mins -
GES bemoans growing tattooing, multiple-piercing, and bleaching among pupils
38 mins -
GRA-SML deal: Majority kicks against publication of KPMG audit report
44 mins -
GOIL introduces Super XP to give consumers more affordable options
1 hour -
Scottish Premiership: Mathew Anim Cudjoe and Dundee United secure promotion after Championship win
2 hours -
Leicester City trigger buy option for Fatawu Issahaku
3 hours -
We will ensure recent poor run of results is reversed – Hearts of Oak management to fans
3 hours -
GRA terminates 2 SML contracts, suspends upstream and minerals audit deal
3 hours -
Sister Derby joins Medikal on stage at 02 concert
3 hours -
Medikal’s 02 Concert: Shatta Wale, Sarkodie bring fireworks on stage
3 hours -
Livestream: Newsfile discusses Cecilia Dapaah’s case, vote-buying allegations in Ejisu
3 hours -
NACOC embarks on a search at Nsawam Prison
4 hours -
Ban on noise-making commences May 6
4 hours -
Foden wins Football Writers’ Association Footballer of the Year award
4 hours