Ghana’s Parliament has reduced the 2019 expenditure budget of the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation’ (GNPC)’s by $80million.
This was revealed by the Ranking Member of the Select Committee on Energy, Adam Mutawakilu.
According to him, there some of the projects captured were not justified hence the slashing.
The committee has also questioned the $50million the Corporation is requesting to use for the building of a refinery, as parts of government’s plans to create a Petroleum hub in the country.
As part of its 2019 budget, the GNPC plans to spend some GHC43million on various projects as part of its Corporate Social Responsibility in 2019. This amount represents 8 percent of the corporation’s total budget of about 800 million dollars for 2019.
Some of the projects include the building of boreholes and educational scholarships for persons within the communities the company operates.
However, some industry watchers have argued that the said amount is high compared to the 20 million dollars the company plans to spend on its core operations including the development of the Voltain Basin.
In 2018, the corporation spent 28 million dollars on CSR which is more than the 25 million dollars it spent on salaries and 17 million dollars it spent on some operational activities.
“The GNPC must prove beyond every reasonable doubt what the funds are going to be used for. We scrutinized every project. And from here the committee will be going on the field to check and ask all the relevant questions,” Mr. Mutawakilu said.
However, the GNPC in an interview with Accra-based Citi FM refuted claims that it is overspending.
General Manager of Sustainability Development, at GNPC, Dr Kwame Baah Nuakoh said those projects are long term investments.
“We invest in the community we operate in. We build their capacity to prepare them for the market so that by the next 15 years they can take up key jobs in the Petroleum sector.”