‘68% of ABFA spent on roads, infrastructure’

An amount of GH¢ 372, 07 million out of GH¢ 543.78 million of the Annual Budget Funding Amount (ABFA) representing 68.42 per cent was spent on Roads and other Infrastructure.

A report on the Management of Petroleum Revenues for the year 2013 by the Public Interest and Accountability Committee (PIAC) said the remaining GH¢287.20, representing 35 per cent of the ABFA allocation was spent on infrastructural projects in several sectors, including energy, education, water, housing, security and health.

An analysis done by the GNA on how petroleum revenue was spent, with emphasis on infrastructure, showed that GH¢ 133.83 million was spent on other infrastructural projects in 2013 compared to Gh¢ 159.73 in 2012.

Of the GH¢ 832.12 million spent on road and other infrastructure between 2011 and 2013, GH¢ 544.92 million representing 65 per cent has been spent constructing, rehabilitating, upgrading, resurfacing a total of 118 roads and road related ancillary works such as repairs to bridges, other structures and drainage work.

The energy sector had the second largest share of the ABFA investments after road infrastructure with an amount of Gh¢ 126.40 million.

The PIAC report pointed out that there was an aggregated amount of GH¢ 13.27 million, reported to have been paid in two installments, spent in 2013 that could not be linked directly to any project.

"The description given in the list of 2013 ABFA funded project simply read, request for release of the outstanding balance of initial capitalization and initial capitalization-additional payment" the report said.

The report pointed out that PIAC was not able to carry out detailed analysis of the projects funded by the ABFA in the past mainly because it did not have access to the full list of projects.

It said: "The closest the committee came to providing some details on the ABFA funded project was in 2011 when it reported on a list of 17 roads that has been constructed, together with a list of programmes/projects implemented under the agriculture modernization that had been partly funded by the ABFA."

The report said the Committee expects that the information and issues presented will be thoroughly discussed by all stakeholders