The swearing-in which took place on Friday 12th February in Port Moresby, is big a relief for the province moving forward with its public works, some of which have been shelved due to the stringent requirements of the provincial government.
Speaking during the swearing-in ceremony of the Provincial Procurement Committee at the National Procurement Commission head office, Governor for East Sepik, Alan Bird admitted there is K80million sitting in the provincial bank accounts allocated for public works.
“We had difficulty procuring things out of, for instance PSIP. Because the PSIP has to go through this committee. And because the committee did not exist we could not do anything. And as a result our response time in the province almost come to a standstill.
“Most times we have to depend for instance, we have one good contractor in the province. And so if we have an emergency, we ask him to go and do it. And we still haven’t paid. We have to wait to go back and procure,” Bird said.
Bird elaborated on essential infrastructure especially roads and bridges within ESP and connections to Sandaun province which are delayed due to strict rules in systems and procedures.
“The DDAs they take their funds and I’m not sure how they procure, but they go ahead and they procure anyway. But we can’t at the provincial level we have to wait for this committee. And I think that these are some things that at the national level, I’ve been calling a lot for devolution of powers. Let us do the work and you come down and audit us, inspect us, check the books, see if we are doing things right or not.” He added.
Members of the Provincial Procurement Committee sworn in included: Provincial Administrator, Dr. Clement Malau, Provincial Financial Manager, Justin Mateos, Provincial Works Manager, Benjamin Haiken and Provincial Planner Tom Fandim.
East Sepik Provincial Administrator, Dr. Clement Malau is happy that the province can now move forward with its project implementations.
He admitted that implementation of projects have been slow in the province and therefore he is happy for the Provincial Procurement Committee to be operational to enhance procurement.
“Striking thing that I’m seeing from CEO is the fact that they are trying to short cut the process. I think that’s really critical to provinces to be able to implement. When people change, they change pretty quickly and how we replace those people on the board is really critical.” Dr. Mala said.
He also expressed that mechanism for procurement has been a major challenge, therefore he agrees with protocols being put in place to fast track the process of procurement.
Dr. Malau also raised the issue of taking advantage of the Emergency Act in approving some procurement, for the NPC CEO and board to take note of.
“With some of the areas like market constructions which is in line with the emergency act, so I thought I raise that because there are some other aspects that we’re looking for to fast track implementation of program that must be done to support our political leaders do their…have their visions and aspirations done.” Dr. Malau said.
The swearing-was witnessed by Magistrate Seth Tanei at the NPC head office.
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