The National Assembly yesterday approved supplementary provisions for current and capital estimates totalling $9.398 billion and the opposition again raised questions regarding what it said was the “raiding” of the Contingencies Fund for monies that should have been covered in the National Budget.
Resolving itself into the Committee of Supply, the National Assembly considered Financial Papers No. 3/2007 and No. 4/2007 item by item and this led to a number of questions being raised by the opposition parties.
The PNCR-1G, led by Winston Murray, launched into a barrage of inquiries about the propriety of bringing large amounts to the National Assembly with little or no explanation as to why they were necessary.
Financial Paper No. 3/2007 – totalling $1.459 billion – covers an amount of $292M for the Ministry of Agriculture to meet expenses for drainage and irrigation works. It also includes a provision of $396.2M to the Ministry of Finance to meet the cost associated with the revision of wages and salaries. A provision was also voted to the finance ministry in the amount of $61.9M to meet additional costs for the Linden Power Company.
To provide additional power to the Lethem Power Company, the National Assembly voted on a provision of $11M. Minister of Transport and Hydraulics Robeson Benn, addressing questions on the provision to the Lethem Power Company, said that hydro-electric feasibility studies should be completed sometime during this year and this will inform decisions on getting the Moco-Moco project commissioned again. This Chinese-funded project collapsed after tremors in the area.
Legal aid services will be strengthened in Georgetown and expanded to Regions 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 10 with a provision of $32M to the Ministry of Labour, Human Services and Social Security.
For the Guyana Defence Force (GDF), a provision was voted for $24.5M for the cost of repairs to the army’s Bell 412 helicopter. According to Minister within the Ministry of Finance Jennifer Webster, the Government’s aim is to get the helicopter in a working state before disposing of it and moving to acquire a new one. She said that a similar aircraft purchased today would cost US$10M.
But member of the GAP/ROAR party Everall Franklyn said that the price that the Minister indicated was too high since the Bell 412 helicopter could be acquired for half of that price. The Minister did indicate that that particular model wasn’t the only one on the Government’s radar.
Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport Dr Frank Anthony and PNCR front-bencher Murray traded punches over lights for the Guyana National Stadium. With a provision for $152M being sought, the Minister explained that this was intended to set the foundation works and install lights at the stadium. But Murray criticized the Minister’s statements and said that such expenditure should have been catered for when the expenses for the stadium were being considered months ago.
In Financial Paper No. 4/2007, totalling $7.939 billion, the Office of the President sought a provision of $40M to meet the cost of chartering a plane to take Guyana’s scholarship students to Cuba. Minister of the Public Service Dr. Jennifer Westford stated that the expenses were necessary since procuring transportation to Cuba for the students proved difficult through the commercial route. She said too that the Government of Guyana even asked the Cuban Government to provide an aircraft, for which Guyana would pay, and this couldn’t be facilitated. She said that sometime ago, the students went to Cuba through a charter flight from North American Airlines and this resulted in the United States Department of State grounding the airline for a while.
The Minister explained that the high cost for the one-way flight was because the charter didn’t only cater for the passengers but also their luggage and cargo.
The Ministry of Finance sought a provision of $636M to meet Government ministries’ outstanding electricity charges to the Guyana Power and Light (GPL). Finance Minister Dr Ashni Singh said that the Government is not delinquent with its payments to the utility and said that since threats of disconnection were usually made to them, they seek to quickly meet their obligations. But Murray was of the view that if the expenses were listed in the Financial Paper as “outstanding” this only meant that the amount was owed over some period of time.
During the question and answer session yesterday, Murray called on the Government side to bring a project profile when seeking large provisions for projects. But the Minister said that this would be a departure from parliamentary convention.
Under the Office of the Prime Minister, a provision of $700M was sought for the purchase of additional generating capacity, additional capital works and counterpart funding connected to the Unserved Areas Electrification Programme (UAEP). The Ministry of Finance sought a provision of $297M for the provision of student loan applications for University of Guyana students for academic year 2007/2008.
An amount of $555M was sought for the Demerara Harbour Bridge for the construction and servicing of pontoons, while for the Berbice Bridge, $150M was sought for the provision of additional inflows and resettlement of residents along the Bridge approach.
Under the Ministry of Housing, a provision was sought for the improvement of the sewerage and water distribution systems in Georgetown to the tune of $1.353 billion. Murray wanted to know if the improvements meant sewerage and water would be distributed at the same time, resulting in resounding laughter in the National Assembly.
At the end of the deliberations over the two Financial Papers, the National Assembly passed the related Supplementary Appropriations Bill.
