By HARLYNE JOKU
THE K10 million promised for districts in the 2008 Budget will be ready to be disbursed to the 89 districts next month according to a source at the Office of Rural Development.
The proposed guideline to allow the release of funds to MPs for projects in the districts was pending cabinet approval.
The ORD source said yesterday the guidelines are ready and would be issued as soon as the financial instructions are approved by cabinet and signed by the treasurer.
The source has further urged frustrated MPs to be patient as the K4 million and additional K6 million district grants are public funds and that ORD would like to see that they are spent on genuine projects.
“Why is the rush? We only started the year. It is February now. By March everything should be in place,” he said.
He made the comments in reaction to concerns raised by Opposition shadow Minister for Works, Transport and Civil Aviation Vincent Michaels about the delay in the release of the K4 million district funds.
Mr Michaels, a first term politician who was also the member for Tewai- Siassi, asked as to when the promised K4 million would be released, claiming there may be no funds available.
“Where is last year’s K4 million? We are now in mid-February and are still waiting for these funds to be released. Just where is this K356 million to be distributed for the 89 districts kept. And what exactly is the delay,” Mr Michaels queried.
He claimed that the government MPs had received their share, while the Opposition MPs were being snubbed.
But the ORD source said Mr Michael’s claims were not true and that his submission papers were still not in order.
He appealed to new MPs not to rush to get hold of the funds but to follow the guidelines and criteria to access the funds and plan their funding proposals to spread over a five-year period.