Govt creates project execution office to stop wastage
Ramathan Ggoobi
What you need to know:
- The office will collaborate with government monitoring and evaluation units to ensure that projects are delivered within budget and according to the required specifications
Government, through the Ministry of Finance, will set up an office of the head of project execution in a move that largely seeks to stop wastage of taxpayers' money through delayed project implementation.
The office will collaborate with other monitoring and evaluation units of government such as the Office of the Prime Minister and responsible departments in ministries to ensure that government projects are delivered according to budget and with required specifications.
While addressing the first Public Investment Management Forum, which seeks to evaluate government projects at the Makerere University School of Public Health in Kampala, Mr Ramathan Ggoobi, the Ministry of Finance permanent secretary and secretary to the Treasury, said because of the manifested challenges including low execution rates for externally funded projects, which experience implementation delays, cost and time overruns, government had decided to create a specialized office to mitigate these challenges.
The office, he added, would also mitigate the general lack of commitment seen among government officials, shortened life span of projects due to poor operation and maintenance of created physical assets, low capacity of some ministries, departments and agencies in project implementation and supervision.
Government has been putting in place different measures to reduce wastage of public resources through delayed execution of, especially donor-funded projects.
In details contained in the Performance of Externally Funded Projects report, Mr Ggoobi warned accounting officers to ensure that projects under their ministries, departments, and agencies are executed within set timelines, failure of which they will be held liable for cost delays.
The report also indicates that the renewal of contracts for accounting officers in government would, in the future be determined by projects under their ministries, departments, and agencies.
Mr Ggoobi noted that the Ministry of Finance had also developed a framework for tracking project implementation, under which standardized and strategic directions would be provided by facilitating a culture of accountability, transparency, and continuous improvement during project execution.
