KINGSTON - The Ministry of Public Works recorded a slight drop in overall performance in 2013 following constraints of weather and lack of critical building material.
Public Works Minister Robeson Benn disclosed on January 31, 2014, that the ministry completed 84 percent its 2013 performance work programmes. On average, the ministry’s completion rates are usually in the 90s, according to Minister Benn, “Unfortunately last year we were off a bit, not only because we had much more work to do, in terms of rollover projects, and additional projects added on to us during the year, but because also we had constraints with respect to the type of weather.”
The year 2013 had a lot of unseasonal rainfall that influenced many of the ministry’s projects. The ministry also had issues with some projects, with respect to the supply of stone, an almost strategic ingredient for the national infrastructure building programme, Minister Benn pointed out.
There were also issues with the mismatch in terms of scheduling of road works, and the timing of financing, “So overall while we have not achieved as much as we thought that we should achieve, in 2013, we are satisfied overall in the ministry with our performance, in terms of the lessons learnt, the experience gained and what we need to do better in 2014,” he said.
Permanent Secretary Balraj Balram said that for 2013 the ministry ended up with a total budget of $18.019B, which accounted for current provision of $2.509B and capital provision of $12.088B. Of the total provision, the ministry’s overall expenditure amounted to 84 percent of the provision, which is $15.120B, of which, current expenditure was 2.499B and capital expenditure was $12.620B.
Performance-wise the ministry completed 99.6 percent of its current programme and 81.36 percent of its capital programmes in 2013.
