The Public Procurement and Asset Disposal Board (PPADB) has confirmed that government spending in military and security related procurements sky rocketed from millions to billions of Pula during the 2015/16 financial year.
On Friday PPADB Executive Chairperson Bridget John told reporters that the Special Procurement and Asset Disposal Committee awarded tenders of a total value of P5.3 billion during the year under review.
The amount is a significant increase in spending by government compared to the P660 million that was reported during the previous year.
Sunday Standard has been informed that outside the special procurement, the total value of tenders channelled through the board amounted to P3.9 billion which is lower than the previous year value of P5.04 billion.
The ministerial tender committees and district administration tender committees, on the other hand, are said to have awarded tenders amounting to P4.55 billion which is also higher than the previous year’s total of P3.6 billion.
John said the Stimulus Economic Programme (ESP) launched last year was generally progressing well across ministries.
“Some projects in various ministries under the programme have been completed and are being utilised by beneficiaries. ESP projects that are awarded, are either ongoing or completed include customary court offices, classroom, teacher accommodation, land servicing, expansion of educational facilities and internet connectivity”, John noted.
Most of the ESP tenders are said to be progressed at Ministerial Tender Committee level. The board announced in March 2016 that it was developing a special portal that will specifically be targeted at tracking tender awards for the ESP.
John noted that the board recorded an increase in the number of contractors registered with it. By close of its books for the 2015/16 financial year, PPADB had registered 17 932 contractors compared to 12 335 in the previous financial year.
“The revenue generated by the board increased from P12.9 million in 2014/15 to P19 million in the 2015/16 financial year”, John said.
