National Assembly team checks if govt keeping word on projects |14 April 2012
The seven-member committee – led by chairperson Sheryl Vangadasamy – also visited three homes near the Victoria bus station which were affected by flooding on October 30 last year.
They were accompanied by the English River member of National Assembly Kevin Vidot, who also gave the delegation an update on the project and led discussions with the project’s beneficiaries.
The delegation is tasked with ensuring that any assurance given by the government before the National Assembly is honoured, such as the above-mentioned projects, whose assurances were given last year for completion by the set deadline.
Ms Vangadasamy said if a government department gives an assurance and does not complete the project, they are summoned before the National Assembly to give an explanation.
“We have just started working on our new mandate, but have already summoned a principal secretary to give clarifications on a project his ministry is carrying out, but we have received good cooperation with all government departments we are working with,” she said.
“If a government department realises that they will not complete a project in time, they simply have to inform us, set a realistic deadline for completing it, and then also let us know of their progress as they work on finishing it.”
The committee said it has it own group of experts to help them appraise work done by government and that a number of National Assembly members – some of them on the committee – are professionals in various fields also offer their expertise on government projects.
“If we feel that a project has not been done satisfactorily or there has been mismanagement of funds or resources, then we also intervene,” said Ms Vangadasamy.
“We are planning to have these visits once or twice a month, to verify government projects and we will give feedback to our superiors and also government authorities on our findings.”