00:00As the 2024 spend of the Ministry of Works and Transport was examined in today's sitting
00:05of the Standing Finance Committee, some opposition MPs, especially in flood-stricken areas, lament
00:12that full allocations are not used and vacancies in the drainage division are not filled in
00:18an effort to prevent what has become an annual crisis for their constituents.
00:23I would just like to support all my colleagues' statements on this side and state that I'm
00:30very disappointed that the 2024 estimate of 41 million resulted in an actual spend of
00:36only 35 million in 2024.
00:39So I would just like to reinforce my colleagues' statements that more has to be done with regards
00:43to jobs and filling vacant positions in this line item.
00:48Minister Rohan Sinhanon explains his constraints.
00:50I would agree that, again, the hiring of employees is a process and like many other ministries
01:00in the daily paid staff, there are some vacancies that have to be filled.
01:04In the mechanical services, we did take on employees as well and we will continue to
01:09do that until we reach the day.
01:11But we must understand, filling the positions is not everything.
01:16We have to make sure we have the competent people to fill the positions as well and sometimes
01:21that takes a while.
01:22But that's not all.
01:23The absence of employees at the repair division is, according to one MP, having severe impacts
01:30on their drainage system.
01:32In my constituency, we have indications of substantial amounts of equipment that at this
01:38point has not been able to be repaired for several reasons, one of which is the existence
01:42of staff in some of these divisions doesn't exist.
01:47There's inadequate staff and therefore equipment is left idle or unrepaired and as a result
01:52of that, we have work which is required to be done being subcontracted to private contractors
01:59as opposed to being done by the ministry itself.
02:02And the traffic enforcement unit, the minister says, remains functioning as its structure
02:06is being reviewed.
02:08Once we have on board the red light cameras, the spot speed and differentials, then this
02:15unit will then have to be expanded.
02:19So it all is, everyone interlocks with each other, so that we have a bigger spend here
02:24and a less spend here.
02:26Additionally, some $46 million is to be spent to lease a semi-submersible barge for the
02:32Karadag facility.
02:33Arushi Tamari, Rupnirayan TV6 News.
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