National Federation Party leader Professor Biman Prasad said the 2021-2022 Budget brought more questions than providing answers.
During the debate on the 2021-2022 Appropriation Bill in Parliament on Monday, he said there were a lot of promises made in previous budgets which had not been fulfilled.
“What happened to the Ba-Lautoka Aspen Public-Private Partnership with FNPF?” he said.
“How much did FNPF lose in this? How much money did ASPEN make? “Now we find that there is another allocation, under the Ministry of Health Head 50, of a new public-private partnership to manage Lautoka and Ba hospitals.
“How has that been done? Is there a new company? Who is involved in this? “What happened to the $10 million first home buyers’ grant, why has it been reduced to $4 million? “What about the free medical scheme for families to visit the doctors announced during the 2018 elections campaign? It never happened.
“What happened to the goal set in the sugar industry strategic plan for 2.5 million tonnes of sugarcane to be harvested every season for a few years? It disappeared completely.
“What happened to the dairy industry that is going to get the company to increase dairy production, we were promised duty-free for ten years? The milk supplier has virtually dried up and the industry has all but disappeared.
“So we have seen in this Budget where they talk big numbers of money but they do not know how they will spend it and we need to hear about that.”
