ECONOMIC planning minister Obeth Kandjoze has revealed that approximately 73% of the N$7,8 billion allocated for capital projects had not been used by September last year.
Addressing //Kharas Regional Development Coordinating Committee (RDCC) members on Thursday at Keetmanshoop, the minister blamed bureaucracy, lack of capacity in regions, procurement delays, and lack of proper implementation and management strategies for the underutilisation of the capital project’s budget.
Kandjoze, accompanied by his senior officials, is visiting the //Kharas region to monitor and evaluate capital projects, and to hear about the challenges encountered in the implementation of these initiatives.
The minister stated that a coherent approach is needed to speed up the implementation of capital projects.
He explained that in terms of the law, state agencies are allowed to start spending a third of their capital projects allocation while the budget debate is ongoing in the National Assembly.
The National Planning Commission (NPC) encourages state agencies to make use of the latter provision of the law by providing local and regional authorities with information about their budget allocations.
Kandjoze noted that what he termed ‘misaligned fiscal years’ between the government and local authorities partly contributed to the underutilisation of the capital project’s budget.
The minister also expressed concern over the slow decentralisation process, saying this was depriving “growth at home”.
“We need to look at a new one if the current one does not work,” he stated, remarking “growth at home is important…the policy framework needs a change”.
“We need to reinvigorate us to craft and cultivate new ways of fending off the stagnation of capital projects to deliver better services,” he added.
According to Kandjoze, some capital projects came to a standstill for up to 10 years, while there is a need to focus on new priorities.
The private and financial sectors were also letting the government down as some financial institutions are reluctant to finance homes at some towns, he added.//Kharas Regional Council chief regional officer Beatus Kasete said the minister in his message emphasised the need for NPC and regional councils to form a closer partnership in development planning to ensure that grassroots actors play a more critical role in directing the course of their own development. “This is a very good move as it will give more impetus to the realisation of the decentralisation policy directives,”he added
luqman@namibian.com.na
