Funding woes put stop on Northern projects

By JEFFREY ELAPA
THE Northern pro­vince restoration authority programme has been scaled downed because of lack of funds.
Authority acting manager Dunstan Sawaraba Iagoro said more than 20 projects had been suspended to await funding.
He estimated that K500 million was needed to complete more than 20 projects.
He said the authority had since 2009 received from the government K21 million for all restoration programmes but nothing was allocated in the 2010 and 2011 budgets for the projects.
Iagoro said the authority had started 54 projects in the province including power supply to three institutions, satellite VSat telephones to four locations, double classrooms and furniture to three schools, teachers’ housing for three schools, six three-bedroom offices and residential complex, three clinical refurbishment, rubbish dump for Popondetta town, cocoa farming for 3,000 farmers, rice farming in five local level governments, a 700kg rice mill and refurbishment to the Popondetta General Hospital outpatients department.
Iagoro said as of July this year, the authority could not continue the restoration work and all projects had been stalled.
He said although several submissions had been made, no funding had been forthcoming.
The projects yet to be completed include road maintenance, bridges, culverts, school maintenance and reconstruction, health clinics, power supply, jetties, airfields, food crops, trainings and empowerment, communications and water supply.