By Chernor Alimamy Kamara
The Ministry of Transport and Aviation is set to conduct a transport sector survey as part of their core deliverables for the Fiscal Year (FY) 2023.
The revelation was made during the 2022 budget hearing on Tuesday 27th September, at the Ministry of Finance conference hall.
Presenting the 2022 core deliverables, the Deputy Secretary of the Ministry, Aiah J.P Lebbie noted that implementation is ongoing for the Integrated and Resilient Urban Mobility Project (IRUMP). He also said that they have completed the procurement of three hundred (300) vehicles to improve service delivery for District and Chiefdom-based staff.
He added that they will continue the operationalization Vehicle Fleet Policy (VFP). He noted that the implementation of one hundred and ninety-three million Leones (Le 193 million) due to the loan scheme that helped them to achieve the objective of reducing the cost of procurement and fleet management across the country is ongoing with considerable savings.
Notwithstanding the achievements they have made as a ministry, Lebbie outlined challenges of insufficient allocation of funds to settle outstanding vehicle debts and the procurement of new vehicles. He said they are also challenged with delays in accessing allocated funds to meet operating costs and other programmes.
“The delay in accessing allocated funds has adversely affected the implementation of activities of the Ministry,” he said.
He added that the consolidation of procurement of vehicles with Operating costs has made the Ministry of Finance view the Transport Ministry’s total expenditure as huge to a point of not allocating adequate funds to them to meet basic operating needs. He further said that they currently have no Information Technology (I.T) infrastructure to host key baselines of transport sector data such as the circulation of Government vehicles and the number of vessels that call on their port.
Lebbie said as part of their proposed 2023 deliverables, they will continue the implementation of the IRUMP and will conduct feasibility studies for the re-introduction of the National Railway Scheme. He also said that they will continue to implement their 2022 deliverables.
The Ministry of Transport and Aviation aims towards developing policies and providing effective and efficient oversight of agencies under its supervision for the delivery of safe, reliable, resilient, affordable, and sustainable maritime, land, and aviation transportation throughout the country.
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