Govt committed to good governance: PM

KATHMANDU, April 26: Prime Minister Jhala Nath Khanal said the government was committed to maintain good governance.



He said this while inaugurating three-day ‘South Asia Region Public Procurement Forum’ on Tuesday organized by Public Procurement Monitoring Office with the support of the World Bank (WB) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB). [break]



The government has focused towards improving good governance, public sector management and accountability, he said. Maximum benefits of public projects should reach the general public while promoting a free market economy that serves judiciously spending of public funds, he said.



“An efficient and effective public procurement system is one of the main driving forces behind a country’s development efforts and can contribute substantially towards strengthening its economy.”



A week public procurement system will surely cause serious losses of public funds and adversely impact the country’s economy and development, he said.



On the occasion, Chief Secretary Madhav Prasad Ghimire said the task to make public procurement system systematic was a challenging and stressed the need of capacity enhancement and sharing of experiences in improving public procure system.



Many countries spend about 10-15 percent of their GDP on public procurement, he said, adding that substantial amounts of financial savings can be realized through the use of a transparent, fair, economic and efficient public procurement system.



Office-in-Charge of ADB Paolo Spantigati expressed commitment on behalf of ADB to support Nepal in public procurement process.



Acting Country Director of WB Christine Kimes said the World Bank will continue support for good governance of various bodies of the Nepal government in coordination with ADB and other stakeholders.



Secretary of Public Procurement Monitoring Office Avanindra Kumar Shrestha said a weak public procurement system will cause a great loss to public fund and create an adverse impact on nation building and economy.



Delegates from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka representing public procurement professionals and officials and experts on public procurement policies and practices from WB and ADB, representatives of media, civil society and private sector are participating in the forum.

Related story

Where there is government, there is corruption!