The Federal Government may extend the implementation of capital projects components in the 2021 Appropriation Act till next year following the inability of many ministries and agencies to conclude their procurement process until the last quarter of this year.
Many heads of the MDAs who appeared before the various Senate standing committees for their 2021 budget performances, blamed their inability to execute their capital projects to the outright ban placed on procurement process from January to May 31.
Specifically, the Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, told the Senate Committee on the Federal Roads Maintenance Agency that the Federal Government issued a circular to delay the implementation of capital components in the 2021 budget till May 31, this year.
He said, “FERMA, like other MDAs got circulars that delayed and deferred commencement of the implementation of the 2021 budget till May 31.
“In order to get a clear picture of the delay in procurement, the committee should begin its reckoning from June.
“This means that the budget has run essentially for five months in real time this year, not for 11 months.”
Investigations by our correspondent who monitored the budget defence sessions of the MDAs at the various Senate panels indicated that most of them did not achieve up to 70 per cent implementation of their capital projects, one month to the end of the year.
– Punch