Africa-Press – Botswana. The Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure, with a proposed budget of 38.2 per cent will take a lion’s share of the P388 billion proposed budget for National Development Plan 12 (NDP 12).
Giving an overview of the Public Investment Programme (PIP) to Parliament on Friday, the Assistant Minister for State President, Ms Maipelo Mophuting noted that the over P148 billion budget estimate would primarily go toward infrastructure development and refurbishment to improve the country’s competitiveness and connectivity.
“The Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure takes the largest share at a P148.09 billion or 38.2 per cent of the proposed development expenditure, mainly to cover roads, build infrastructure, railways and airports, including the recapitalisation of Air Botswana to enhance competitiveness and connectivity.”
Ms Mophuting said government had prioritised refurbishment of dilapidated infrastructure and the largest share under this plan would be channeled toward restoration of this infrastructure.
As for the Ministry of Water and Human Settlement, she noted that a larger portion of the proposed P47.2 billion would be spent on water network rehabilitation, water supply upgrading and housing projects.
With the third largest budget of P40.12 billion, Ms Mophuting said the proposed development budget for the Ministry of Minerals and Energy would go toward electricity transmission and distribution, mineral exploration and research development, among other priorities.
“The resources are mainly earmarked for electricity generation, transmission and distribution, exploration and mineral development, mining and minerals governance, national oil security and research development,” she said.
Ms Mophuting said the Ministry of Local Government and Traditional Affairs had proposed a development budget of P15.29 billion.
She underscored the need for prudent financial management, owing to a forecast of negative economic growth in the next financial year.
“This serves as a warning to us to be mindful of prudent management of resources as well as the limitation on the country’s ambitious project delivery goals of transforming this economy.Government is cautious of the limited fiscal space which remains constrained to rising recurrent expenditures and modest revenue growth,” she said.
Consequently, she said NDP 12 would prioritise ongoing economically viable and impactful projects that addressed key socio-economic challenges, unemployment, inequality, climate change and disability, among other national priority areas.
Ms Mophuting also noted that projects and programmes would be prioritised according to their contribution toward long term development transformation.
She said while the majority of the proposed projects would be financed through the Domestic Development Fund (DDF) and donor funding, Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) would also play a critical role in driving the economic transformation agenda.
“It will be critical to augment the DDF with the assistance provided from donor funding such as the World Bank, African Development Bank, European Union and others, without compromising our fiscal sustainability. The PPP model will also need to be fast tracked to finance some of the development projects and other strategies will be put in place for mobilising resources to support the transformation agenda and inclusivity,” she said.
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