…adopts strategy for management and productivity
The Government as part of its reform agenda for the public sector, has adopted a multi-pronged strategy to ensure proper management of public investment through the implementation of the Public Investment Management (PIM) System. The system will serve as a database to hold basic and technical information relating to the thousands of projects being executed across the country.
This comes in at time when the country faces tight financing conditions for capital projects with high costs and less concessional sources after achieving lower-middle income status.
Finance Minister
Speaking at the launch of the Public Investment Management (PIM) System, Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta said that operationalising the PIM System, would consolidate all projects systems currently scattered in the various MDAs/MMDAs/SOEs, to allow for a comprehensive view which will inform public policy and strategy.
The PIMs will run as a record for all public infrastructure projects, irrespective of their funding sources. It will transmit prioritised coded projects through the Public Investment Plan (PIP), the budget module and implemented in the GIFMIS.
Ofori-Atta said the Ministry has also initiated processes for the passage of a PIM regulation by Parliament. This forms part of the efforts at improving the regulatory framework for PIMs.
This regulation will include guidelines to further guide MDAs/MMDAs/SOEs in their project preparation, prior to submission of projects for financing.
The Minister further revealed that a high-level working committee has been established at the ministry that will review projects submitted to it by the public investment division (PID) of the ministry.
The committee is expected to prioritise and rank projects that have been judged acceptable from a technical standpoint, to feed into the pipeline of projects that will ultimately be considered by cabinet.
By Joshua W. Amlanu
