The Guardian, From RoseAnn Chikereuba, Port Harcourt

THE Rivers State government has budgeted over N429 billion for the 2010 fiscal year. Presenting the 2010 appropriation bill to the state's House of Assembly yesterday, Rivers State Governor, Mr. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, said the budget was expected to be serviced from the 2010 projected revenue of N369 billion.

The 2010 budget would be almost N3.28 billion below that of 2009 budget of N432 billion. The difference in the budget, according to the governor, was because adequate foundations have been laid for the rebuilding of the state.

He stressed that the budgets in the first two years in office were motivated by a deliberate policy to promptly tackle the unacceptable abyss of decay into which the human capital and physical infrastructure were ruined.
Amaechi, who announced that the 2009 budget performance was above national average, said the state government's focus now is on how to consolidate the gains of the past two years.
Giving a breakdown of the investments into the 2009 budget, Amaechi said: "Huge investment commitments have been made in the construction of 350 model primary and 24 model secondary schools in the state, in addition to other educational infrastructures.
"The health sub sector will also witness a massive turn around with the construction of 102 standard Primary Health care centres and hospitals across the State; the power projects to touch all the nooks and crannies of the State has begun, 506 kilometre of road construction, 30 bridges, four flyovers and five land reclamation/ shore protection projects".
According to Amaechi, 21 per cent of the projected expenditure, representing N90 billion, would be devoted into recurrent, while the remaining 79 per cent, representing N339 billion, would go on capital.
A further breakdown of the capital expenditure showed that education sector is taking N70 billion; works, N70 billion; power, N23 billion; sports, N22 billion; health, N18 billion; water, N14 billion; housing, N3 billion; and agriculture, N2 billion.
"With your cooperation, we embarked on ambitious infrastructural projects to fast track the development of our State and people, however the fruits of these investments cannot be realized without further investments to consolidate what we have already started. Hence we captioned 2010 budget as the Budget of Consolidation", Amaechi added.
He told the legislators that the state, in a bid to grow the private sector to serve as an engine for the growth the state and address the key growth challenges for sustainable economic development, is creating an enabling environment, putting in place the necessary policy programs, incentive packages, and appropriate legal, and regulatory framework, for private sector investment in the state.
Responding to the budget presentation, the Speaker of the House, Tonye Harry, commended the governor for his efforts at positioning the state as one of the leading states in Africa. He promised that the assembly would do everything possible to ensure that the budget is passed without delay.

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