The National Assembly has raised budgetary allocation to the Ministry of Works from 657.3 billion naira in the proposed budget to 1.03 trillion naira.
This represents 373 billion naira or 56.7 per cent increase from the initial figure in the appropriation bill. It also represents a 65.4 per cent increase from the amount approved in the 2023 budget.
Reports say that the ministry is responsible for the repairs and maintenance of over 33,000 kilometres of federal government roads across the country. A copy of the approved budget showed that the increase was due to raising of its capital budget from 617.9 billion naira to N987.3billion naira.
An analysis of the document also showed that several capital projects were introduced in the approved budget. The document revealed that N94.83billion naira was approved for the construction of Lafia road and the dualisation of 9th Mile (Enugu) Otukpo-Makurdi (Keffi Phase Ii) road project, 15 billion naira for the construction of Ota-Idiroko road section one to three, N4billion naira for construction of Iyin-Ilawe Ekiti road Section one to three, N13.5billion naira for the rehabilitation of Enugu-Port Harcourt road Section two and four.