ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly Standing Committee on Cabinet Secretariat on Wednesday adopted the amendments in the Pakistan Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (Amendment) Bill, 2020.

The committee, which met with Kishwer Zehra in the chair, was of the view that the amendment proposed in the bill would provide a comprehensive regulatory framework for public procurement and disposal of assets.

The committee was also of the view that the Pakistan Public Procurement Regulatory Authority with the proposed structure would better perform its regulatory functions under professionals having expertise in the relevant field.

While taking up starred question moved by Sher Akbar Khan regarding construction of dispensaries at NA-9 under Peoples Works Programme, the committee was apprised that as according to the data received from the District Monitoring Officer, District Bunair, most of the dispensaries had either been encroached or are non-existent.

The committee expressed its displeasure at the present status of the dispensaries constructed with the public funds for providing health services to the people.

The NA panel directed the representative of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government to bring a comprehensive plan for retrieval of the encroached dispensaries, and their revival in the next meeting of the committee.

The committee deferred a discussion on a calling attention notice by Mir Munawar Ali Talpur regarding humanitarian disaster in various districts of Sindh and other parts of Pakistan caused by torrential rains due to absence of the mover.

However, it asked the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) representative to brief the committee about the Karachi Transformation Plan and the relief activities carried out in the city during the previous monsoon season in its next meeting.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021