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Business Reporter
THE Portfolio Committee on Budget, Finance and Economic Development will from today until Saturday conduct countrywide public hearings on Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Assets and the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Amendment Bills.
Speaker of Parliament Advocate Jacob Mudenda made the announcement during a Parliamentary session last week.
“I wish to inform the House that the Portfolio Committee on Finance and Economic Development will conduct Public Hearings on the Public Procurement and Disposal of Assets Bill and the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Amendment Bill from Monday, 28th November, 2016 to Saturday, 3rd December, 2016 in all the country’s provinces.
“The committee will be divided into Team One, covering the northern parts of the country and Team Two, covering the southern parts of the country,” he said.
The Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Assets Bill seeks to strip the State Procurement Board (SPB) of powers to award tenders and was gazetted in August this year.
According to the proposed law, the awarding of tenders would now be done by accounting officers in various State departments and companies, with the SPB playing a supervisory and monitoring role to ensure Government entities comply with the law and other set standards.
This is also in tandem with the Government’s intention to improve the ease of doing business in the country.
Of late, there have been allegations of corruption in the awarding of tenders at SPB, while some stakeholders have complained of delays in adjudicating tenders, thereby affecting efficiency in Government.
The RBZ Amendment Bill, which enables the central bank and Finance and Economic Development Minister Patrick Chinamasa to issue bond notes exchangeable at par with the United States dollar, was gazetted this month.
This means that the RBZ will now determine the design, form and material of the notes and notify the public.
Zimbabwe is introducing bond notes to promote the export sector, which at the moment is depressed resulting in a continued negative trade deficit the country has experienced since the adoption of a multicurrency system in February 2009.
Online Reporter