PM's Office seeks $10m to clear community project backlog

The Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) has requested a $10 million budget allocation to clear a backlog of community development projects across the country.

Officials made the request during a submission to the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defence while presenting the office’s annual reports.

The committee was told that demand for development funding far exceeds the available budget.

For the current financial year, funding for the grant scheme stands at between $1.2 million and $1.4 million. However, the total value of funding requests received by the office has reached $12 million.

OPM head of corporate services and project planning Moape Rokosuka said projects worth about $10 million remained unfunded.

“That shows the number of projects that are pending for quite some time until date,” he said.

“So $10 million worth of projects is sitting there waiting for funding and we hope that maybe the committee can help us get this in the upcoming budget to help fund the projects.”

The request followed a question from Assistant Minister for iTaukei Affairs Ratu Isikeli Tuiwailevu on the number of projects that remained incomplete because of funding constraints.