Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Clearly, there are more needs than we have resources for, so we’re always in the business of making choices.
The majority of the capital items or projects brought forward were already on the table from last year. There were some new ones with Transportation and with some strategic initiatives because of new funding and such. We have shared information with a committee that sorted all the capital projects by constituency so everybody would have an idea of what that looks like.
One of the changes we are trying to deal with, of course, is the issue of carry-overs. Also was the fact that we were approving more and more projects that we weren’t completing. We needed to try to change the cycle and come up with ways to
get ahead of that process so we didn’t have so much money tied up on projects we weren’t completing.
We also shared the 15 year plan with committee, I do believe. As we move forward with the work of the infrastructure committee, they’ll lay out all the steps and suggested improvements to the capital planning process. We do look forward to feedback from the Members in terms of what’s being brought forward, recognizing that there is a need, as I indicated in my statement, to get things done.
Our money was being eaten up by inflation, and I know the 12th Assembly, in fact, had this process.
The 13th came in, and we changed that process,
because we wanted to get the budgets passed.
One of the other big concerns at the time was that the overall budget for the government was often not getting passed until well into the fall, meaning interim appropriations and a lot of other issues around that. Clearly, the capital concerns have reached the point where we have had to reconsider and look at what is the most natural and effective way to deliver capital. That is to try to have the projects ready and the equipment and material on the ground so that you are ready when spring comes to start work.
We look forward to feedback from the community as we move forward with the rest of the work that is being done by the infrastructure committee.