An uphill task: Financial constraints making budget preps difficult, says Said

Minister launches online procurement, audit system

PESHAWAR: The provincial government faced considerable hardships when preparing the K-P budget due to financial constraints.

This was said by Minister for Finance Muzaffar Said and mentioned in a handout issued on Friday. Said was addressing the inaugural ceremony of an online procurement and audit system under the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (KPPRA) at the Treasury Office in the city.

According to Said, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf-led government would not only present a development and welfare-oriented budget for the new fiscal year, but will also display exemplary financial discipline and governance through the efficient use of available resources.

The function was also addressed by Secretary for Finance Ali Raza Bhutta, KPPRA MD Kamran Rehman, Human Resource Director Sirajuddin and Director Enforcement Muhammad Qasim. The speakers said the online procurement and audit system will ensure automated transparency in government purchases and services and would drastically reduce travel expenditures of officers coming from distant areas.

They added expenses would be reduced as this system will not require meetings of authorities in Peshawar as processes could be completed online.

The finance minister said the fundamental aim was to make departments subservient to the public and remove complications hampering service delivery.

He said the government was trying to save officials from corruption instead of looking for excuses to arrest them as was the practice in the past.

He was confident the new system would eliminate corruption and nepotism from government departments.

Said was proud of the performance of his department and team. The finance minister took a tour of the treasury offices and underlined the need to computerise the cheque awarding system.

It was decided on the occasion that an online cheque distribution system would be launched soon after the budget announcement as a pilot project in smaller districts including Lower Dir, Haripur and Kohat. It would be extended to the rest of the province if the debut is successful.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 21^st, 2016.