BY ALFRED PAGEPITU
GIZO
WESTERN province Assembly is expecting to approve its budget of $32.9 million today.
Provincial finance minister Mr Lester Sa’omasi says 61 percent of it is allocated for recurrent programmes and 39 percent will be for capital projects.
He said most provincial divisions have resubmitted proposals based on last year’s plans, while only a handful have opted for new programmes for this year – aimed at improved and achievable performances.
“Provincial Assembly had again been allocated with the highest portion of $4.8m but that was after their original bid was trimmed for obvious reason.
“The acme bench mark was also used to reduce the provincial administrating allocation to $3m, a reduced of 33 percent.”
Sa’omasi however says two allocations have been labelled as inadequate, which he believes will pose a problem for the next government. He advises that if faced with this challenge, the next government should mobilise its local resources.
He adds that the office of the Premier’s allocation stands at $2.3m.
