National Assembly starts examining budgets of MDAs in Committee Stage discussions, three entities defend allocations on the first day |17 November 2022
Proposed budget allocation of R399.2 million approved for Ministry of Lands and Housing
National Assembly members on Tuesday afternoon approved a proposed budget of R399.2 million for the Ministry of Lands and Housing.
This was on the first day of discussions and examinations of budget allocations for Ministries Departments and Agencies (MDAs) in the Assembly committee stage and came soon after Assembly members had finished giving their reactions and replies on the general merit of the proposed 2023 budget and the Minister for Finance, National Planning and Trade had clarified points they raised and answered their questions.
Members voted 28 for, no one voted against with one member abstained thus giving a unanimous approval to the budget of the Ministry of Lands and Housing.
When presenting his ministry’s proposed budget allocation, Minister Billy Rangasamy noted that the budget for the ministry for 2022 was R94.7 million while the budget proposed for next year is R399.2 million. Minister Rangasamy pointed out that the increase of R304.5 million is related to capital projects which have been transferred from the Seychelles Infrastructure Agency (SIA) to his ministry as well as different sums injected by the government to give a significant push to land and housing projects further.
For 2023 Minister Rangasamy noted that the budget for Wages and Salaries has increased by R3.3 million which makes provision for the 13th month pay as well as the 10% salary increase for all the ministry’s employees.
Meanwhile the ministry will also recruit for two key positions, namely a GIS programmer as well as a senior monitoring and evaluation officer in line with its strategic plan which it has been working on for the past one and a half years.
The ministry is also working at reinforcing its customer services unit which the minister admits has a lot of deficiencies.
Assembly members spent the whole afternoon debating on different aspects of the ministry’s proposed budget for next year and they raised a lot of questions and aired their concerns in relations to the different land bank and housing projects in their respective districts.
Assembly members also learnt that PS Denis Barbe who is responsible for housing has been appointed by Minister Rangasamy in the interim as PS for lands.
Meanwhile, earlier during Tuesday morning, two other entities that fall under the portfolio of the Ministry of Lands and Housing, namely the Seychelles Planning Authority and the Seychelles Infrastructure Agency (SIA), also had their budgets considered, discussed before receiving the approval of Assembly members.
• Budget of R18.3 million approved for Seychelles Planning Authority
Minister Rangasamy led the delegation from the Seychelles Planning Authority which also comprised its chief executive, Angela Servina, as well as other key officials of the authority to answer Assembly members’ questions and clarifications that they sought on the authority’s budget allocation.
National Assembly members voted 25 for, no one against with no abstention to approve the sum allocated for the Seychelles Planning Authority.
Presenting the budget for the authority for next year – a sum of R18.3 million – Minister Rangasamy noted that it represents an increase of R1.8 million on this year’s allocation, a sum which he said is going towards salary revisions next year as well as the 13th month pay on employees’ performances to be paid in January. Furthermore R13.4 million has been earmarked for salaries and other benefits including allowances and gratuity for the 50 Seychellois employees of the entity. R4.9 million is going towards Goods and Services which include everyday operations of the entity including its board and five different committees.
The authority is the regulatory body for all construction works in the country as well as a mandate to regularise land use. Minister Rangasamy went on to give Assembly members details of all the work that the authority has planned for this year and called on them to approve its budget.
Among the pertinent questions raised in relation to that budget was a significant increase in its fuel allocation from R4 million this year to reach R20 million next year which MNA Audrey Vidot raised.
Ms Servina explained that this is in relation with the work of the new Appeal’s Board set up under the new law that came into force in April this year.
Ms Servina said as per the nature of its work, the said board has been putting a lot of pressure on the authority’s fuel allocation thus the need for the Planning Authority to request for financial increase from the finance ministry.
She further noted that the allocation will also cater for the needs of the authority’s board and different committees.
With regard to compensation payments for past years’ service for employees under PSC contract, the leader of the opposition, Sebastien Pillay, queried as to whether these payments are made by the authority as well.
Ms Servina pointed out that these are no longer made under their budget.
In terms of the challenges faced by the authority to deliver on the increasing volume of its work on time, Hon. Pillay also questioned if the authority has enough manpower to help cut out on the length of time members of the public have to wait before their plans and designs are approved.
Ms Servina remarked that the waiting time for the public is between four to five weeks but might take more than that depending on the specificity of projects as some request inputs from referral agencies and this takes time.
With 1730 ongoing projects, Hon. Pillay wanted to know if with the different capital projects the government has announced, the authority will be able to cope with the manpower it has. Ms Servina noted that the authority has the capacity and has monitored over 200 projects in the past.
Among other points raised were the authority’s work on the districts’ land use plans, need for the authority to make new recruitments, its fleet of vehicles, increase in utilities, among others.
•R108.8 million for Seychelles Infrastructure Agency approved
The budget allocation being proposed for the Seychelles Infrastructure Agency (SIA) for next year has been approved by the National Assembly after 20 members voted for, no one voted against and four members abstained, thus approving the proposed sum.
With the responsibility to implement the majority of government projects the Seychelles Infrastructure Agency (SIA) established under its own act; the Seychelles Infrastructure Agency Act in March this year, Minister Rangasamy pointed out that a lot of work has been carried out to now to put in place the necessary structures and procedures to allow the agency to deliver on its mandate which is to develop and implement national projects in a well planned, well coordinated and efficient manner.
Minister Rangasamy noted that while the administrative and structural work was underway, SIA has also been working on some 400 projects.
The budget being allocated for the agency is a sum of R108.8 which has been reduced considerably compared to the budget allocation the agency received for this year.
“The reduction is specifically in its capital budget for project implementation. The year 2022 was a transitory year where capital projects for the Ministry of Lands and Housing were allocated under what was then called the Infrastructure Department. But as from next year 2023, the budget for land and housing projects will be transferred under the ministry itself just like it is the case for other ministries,” Minister Rangasamy informed Assembly members.
A sum of R41.1 million under this agency’s allocation for next year is going towards payment of salaries and compensation for employees as well as accommodation for expatriate employees. This allocation has also been increased by almost R3.7 million compared to the 2022 revised budget. Minister Rangasamy said this will cater for salaries of employees in critical positions as well as cover the 10% salary increase for public sector employees.
Good and Services is receiving a sum of R10.9 million and Minister Rangasamy noted that as all of the agency’s technical resources will now be brought under the same and one roof, this will bring more efficiency.
With regard to the shortage of skilled technical experts in the agency namely for land surveying which is resulting in a lot of delays on different projects highlighted by MNA Wavel Woodcock, Minister Rangasamy admitted that this is a big challenge for his ministry but he said all efforts are continuously being made to address the problem.
But he went on to note that it is very difficult to find the right local candidates in this area of specialisation thus the large number of foreign experts in that sector.
MNA Regina Esparon raised the issue related to a substantial increase in office expenses for instance uniforms which has increased from a budget of R67,000 to R291,000 as well as the budget allocated for telephone which is seeing a considerable increase from R288,000 to R471,000 and Hon. Esparon wanted to know if this increase in telephone budget means members of the public will see an improvement in customer service offered by the agency.
On the issues of telephone the SIA’s chief executive Jitesh Shah explained that the increase will cater for staff transferred to SIA as well as a new package negotiated with Airtel to receive more data to allow SIA technicians on different sites to send images via their phones to their offices and different other ministries as the agency becomes more digital. With regard to uniforms Mr Shah said the increase is going towards the costs of new uniforms.
Assembly members raised different other issues related to the agency including the need for the agency to raise its attainment target to become more efficient, an increase in the budget for utilities among other points.
Marie-Anne Lepathy