2026 State Budget : Practical Contributions From Senators

With regards to the preparation of the State budget for 2026, Senators have made some contributions to the government. This was during a plenary sitting chaired yesterday July 8, 2025 by the Vice President of the Senate, Tabetando and it was dedicated to the budget orientation debate. During the encounter, the law-makers questioned the Minister of Finance, Louis Paul Motaze on implementation of projects that directly impact the lives of the population, ranging from water and energy, infrastructure and other basic amenities. 
Providing clarifications to the worries of Senators, the Minister of Finance noted that the objective of the debate is to ensure that the State budget is inclusive and does not only reflect the ideas of the government.  With most of the observations made on improving energy production and supply in the country, the Minister said it is actually the plan of the government. He noted that the Nachtigal hydroelectric dam for example was constructed on a public-private partnership basis, with a contract with ENEO to pay for the energy generated. Unfortunately, when the electricity company fails to meet its monthly obligations, the weight falls on the government who is forced to shoulder the inadequacies and cover for the lost, thus costly to the State. He however disclosed that government is in the process of launching another dam that will generate an estimated 500 megawatts of electricity. Besides improving energy production, Louis Paul Motaze said the government is seeking alternative energy sources of like solar energy. 
As concerns the road network in the country, which the Senators note is not in a good state, the Minister said the government wants to tar as many kilometres of roads as possibly, but for the fact that resources are limited. He told the Senators that there will always be problems but one thing he has observed is that problems go before solutions. He said new neighbourhoods are being created every day following construction of houses by the population. This, he noted, is expected to be followed by the construction of roads and the installation of water, energy and other infrastructure, which he said government is attending to such needs progressively. “We are trying to have a fiscal policy that allows for people to breath and avoiding so much debts,” he told the Senators. 
The Minister was also asked ...