TheCable

Babatunde Fashola, minister of power, works housing, says he is in doubt if there is any state in the country where roads are being constructed.

While defending the 2017 budget for works before the senate committee on Monday, Fashola said there was a possibility of the ministry getting more funds before the 2016 budget expires.

He explained that the ministry received only 53 percent of N300 billion appropriated to it in the 2016.

“It is not the question of lack of capacity but the question of how much revenue the country earns and how they can give to us to pursue our work,” he said.

“We received only 53 per cent on the allocation; there is the possibility that we will get more before the current budget fully winds down.

“I doubt that there is any state in the federation where there is no road project going on, whether it is our own direct project or constituency project.”

On his part, Kabiru Gaya, the committee chairman said it was the work of the national assembly to appraise budget proposals sent to it.

“The budget is a draft, we will do our work. The national assembly could not have been said to have padded the budget.

“By law, it has constitutional rights to appraise the budget proposal sent to it. It will therefore be a misnomer in the process of considering the budget to be seen as padding.

“We must explore more resourceful ways of delivering quality service in this sector. We must consider alternative sources of funding like public-private partnership and foreign investors to support the budget in the future.”