MP wants to use oil-for-roads program to pay civil servants

A member of the National Transitional Assembly (TNLA) on Wednesday called on the Ministry of Finance to suspend the allocation of oil revenues to infrastructure projects and instead use the funds for the salaries and wages of civil servants.

Changkuoth Bichiock Reth, chairman of the Finance and Economic Planning Committee, called on the government to reconsider its priorities.

“Suspend the Council of Ministers resolution allocating the Nile Blend Oil in Blocks 1, 2, 4 and 5A for infrastructure development projects and divert it to meet the salaries and wages of the entire government,” Reth said.

He advised the government to suspend spending on the oil-for-road projects until a better solution is found for the reallocation of Nile Blend crude oil for infrastructure development.

The salary arrears of civil servants and members of the organised armed forces amounted to 85 billion SSP per month, he said.

Reth said the tax authority collects 40 billion Singapore dollars a month from the non-oil sector. This is half of the wages and salaries of civil servants, he stressed.

He said the Nile Blend Crude Oil in Unity State currently contributes $44 billion to $47 billion per month to the state coffers.

In May 2018, South Sudan provided 20,000 barrels of its crude oil per day to Chinese companies for road construction.