Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola has said the ministry received only 53 per cent of the over N300bn appropriated to it 2016.

Fashola said this at the ongoing 2017 budget defence before the Senate Committee on Works on Monday in Abuja.

He said the ministry was allocated N456. 94bn in the 2016 budget as the works section had N301.85bn allocation.

He said, “It is not the question of lack of capacity but the question of how much revenue the country earns and how they can give to us to pursue our work.

“We received only 53 per cent on the allocation; there is the possibility that we will get more before the current budget fully winds down.”

Fashola notified the committee that the proposal of the ministry for the return of contractors to work was progressively implemented.

He said, “I doubt that there is any state in the federation where there is no road project going on, whether it is our own direct project or constituency project.”

Azeez