The Senate through its Committee on Water Resources declared Tuesday that about 400 water projects or dams, have been turned into abandoned pronects nationwide.
Chairman of the Senate Committee on Water Resources, Senator Bello Mandiya, made this known while briefing newsmen after budget defence session the committee had with the Minister of Water Resources, Engr Suleiman Adamu.
He lamented that some of the dams were cited where dams cannot even be constructed, making the Ministry now as explained by the Minister to be prioritising the ones to be completed.
The Minister he explained further, disclosed to the committee that twenty dams have been identified which will be completed.
Mandiya said,” He met about 400 water projects scattered all over the country. What he did was to prioritize because some dams were even cited where dams cannot be constructed.
“What he did was to prioritise and he has been able to complete some and decided to do others, about 20 of them from now till the end of his tenure. So, the Ministry is very clear about this.
“If we compare and contrast between what this government has done with previous governments in the water sector, you will realise that this government has done very well.”
The Minister while appearing before the committee had lamented spate of abandoned dams across the country.
According to him, “We have over 400 dams but many of them have no utilisation down stream. Anybody can come and invest in the dams.”
Speaking on the budget proposal for 2022, the Minister presented budget proposal of N81 billion for the main Ministry and tabled budget proposal of N70.4 billion for the agencies under the Ministry.
The capital proposal under the main Ministry is about N78 billion while the Personnel cost is about N2 billion and Overheads of N278 million.
The agencies under the Ministry proposed capital budget of N62.1 billion while personnel is pegged at N7.2 billion. N1 billion was earnmarked for overhead.
The Minister in his presentation told the committee of their decision to create line item for Public Private Partnership in line with extant circular.
He said the Ministry is focusing on mobilising private investment for infrastructure development.
