Minister of Finance and Public Enterprises, Iipumbu Shiimi has allocated N.dollars 40 million to the Ministry of Urban and Rural Development to settle the outstanding COVID-19 water bills of various local authorities.
Shiimi announced this in Parliament on Wednesday. The Ministry of Urban and Rural Development was overall allocated N.dollars 1.9 billion in 2023/24 and N.dollars 5.7 billion over the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF).
The amount allocated includes N. dollars 96 million targeted at informal settlement upgrading in major urban centres across the country, as well as N.dollars 50 million for the land compensation programme countrywide, Shiimi said.
He also said the ministry will finalise the Constituency Development Fund Bill which was approved by Cabinet in October 2022 to address the grassroots level socio-economic needs of communities.
Meanwhile, the Office of the President will receive an allocation of N.dollars 956.6 million in this financial year, an increase from N.dollars 725.7 million in the previous year.
“The increase partially reflects the movement of the division of Government Air Transport Services from Transport, the transfer of the Regional Governors’ budget from the Vote of Urban and Rural Development, as well as provisions for the finalisation of the Chief Hosea Kutako Shrine,” he said.
The vote also contains an allocation of N.dollars 120.1 million for the Namibia Investment Promotion and Development Board (NIPDB) to facilitate investments.
Over the MTEF, the Vote will receive a total of N.dollars 2.9 billion.
“The Office of the Prime Minister will receive N.dollars 478.7 million, with N.dollars 1.5 billion budgeted over the MTEF period. This allocation includes, among others, provisions for the National Emergency Disaster Fund, drought relief, as well as funding for the Data Centre infrastructure to improve the performance, resilience and security of public service Information Technology (IT) systems,” Shiimi said.
The MTEF sets out a three-year spending plan for the government and aims to ensure that budgets reflect Government’s social and economic priorities while giving substance to Government’s reconstruction and development commitments.
(NAMPA)
Source: The Namibian Press Agency