Roads Authority Requests 20 bln birr

Monday, 13 June 2011

The budget earmarked for the 2011/12 fiscal year is over 100 billion birr, sources at the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development (MoFED) said. The draft budget proposal was scheduled for submission to the council of ministers last week.

The 2011/2012 budget is 20 billion birr more than the current fiscal year's budget.

About 45 billion birr of the total is set aside for regional states as a budget subsidy which was allocated by Prime Minister Meles Zenawi. The regional states will use 70 percent of their share of the budget for road construction projects to connect 18,000 districts throughout the country except those in Dire Dawa and Addis Ababa.
The road construction in the districts is estimated to cover about 76,000 kilometres, the Ethiopian Roads Authority, which was entrusted to survey the projects, has in and of itself requested a budget of 20 billion birr from the federal government. If the request is granted, about 50 billion birr will be spent on road construction alone in the coming fiscal year.

About 35.9 billion out of the current fiscal year's budget of 77.2 billion birr went to capital projects while 24.2 billion was allotted as budget subsidy for regional states, and 17.6 billion was set aside for ordinary expenses. However, an additional seven billion birr was approved when finances ran short in the middle of the year.

Source: The Reporter