Sandy Gully budget allocation remains

The Ministry of Finance says it will not be reducing the allocation provided in the 2011-2012 Budget for repair works to the Sandy Gully.

In April, the Government budgeted to spend $793 million on the Tropical Storm Nicole Drainage Network Rehabilitation Project under which repairs to the Sandy Gully fall.

This week, the National Contracts Commission (NCC) approved $1.4 billion in contracts for emergency repair works in the gully.

Dr Alwin Hales, permanent secretary in the Ministry of Transport and Works, had told The Gleaner on Wednesday that several projects to be undertaken by his ministry would see reductions in allocation when Finance Minister Audley Shaw tables a revised Budget in Parliament later this month.

No cuts coming

The permanent secretary said there was a likelihood that "all our programmes might be affected by the reduction in the Budget".

Hales added: "I can't tell you the extent to which they will be affected, bearing in mind the PAAC (Public Administration and Appropriations Committee) will consider the Supplementary Estimates and then standing finance committee will also approve them."

But in a response yesterday, the finance ministry said the $793 million approved in April would not be cut.

The ministry, however, did not say whether additional resources would be made available to the NWA to pay contractors for the $1.4 billion which is required to carry out the full amount of the emergency works that have been approved.

"The sum of $723 million was approved to complete 30 per cent of drainage rehabilitation works on the Sandy Gully caused by damage from Tropical Storm Nicole," the ministry said.

In the meantime, Stephen Shaw, manager of customer service and communication at the NWA, told The Gleaner that the contracts approved by the NCC represent a portion of the works that is required for the Sandy Gully.

Shaw said he was unable to say what percentage of the work is captured by the contracts approved but noted that the agency did not have the capacity to complete rehabilitation work in the gully in any given year.

It remained unclear which aspects of the works to be carried out in the gully might not be funded by the Budget.