The rightful usage of public funds firms the trust of masses on the government. The steady transparency in system brings result-oriented decisions which ultimately lead to success in better governance and in saving public money, saving them from going into the pockets of some individuals in shape of corruption. The transparent system also guarantees a strong system of justice in the state and harmony among citizens, as well as, provision of equal opportunities of jobs to the youths.
There are certain ways to effectively curb corruption. One of them is the usage of “E- Technology”, and billions of dollars have been saved with it across the world. The most leading countries are Denmark, Finland and New Zealand which have consistently been ranked high in transparency and low in corruption because of their robust digital systems and e-governance platforms which have been ensuring transparency in public procurement, financial transactions, and decision-making process. The Key benefits of E- Technology are increased transparency, improved accountability, and efficient service delivery.
The Punjab Government under the leadership of Chief Minister Punjab Maryam Nawaz Sharif has firmly embarked on the journey of E- Technology in the province to make the governance more efficient and transparent, so that all doors of corruption could be slammed shut tightly. The crest aim of the Punjab Government is to eliminate corruption-oriented system on fast track.
That is the reason that soon after taking the chair of Chief Minister Punjab, a bold step was taken to introduce E- Tendering and E- Procurement in place of manual tendering. Considering that the old manual tendering was a major part of corruption-oriented practices in government departments, it was decided to address this system with the introduction of E-Technology and E-Tendering, minimising the chances of corruption. The Punjab Government has successfully implemented E-Tendering and E-Procurement in all departments of the province since the CM Punjab has taken up the charge of her office.
It is a fact that in past every government used to give a major chunk of its budget to the development sector along with other major sectors like health and education, so a huge amount of government budget was kept for infrastructures. However, the chances of corruption-related practices were there on large scale at different stages. The previous governments did not bother to halt these corrupt practices, particularly attached with the construction of infrastructures.
Hence, a huge amount of development budget went into the pockets of corrupt officers, political figures, and contractors. As the tendering process is the first step to initiate any scheme and major portion of amount of allocated budget of any scheme would be wasted in the process of manual tender, involving multiple corrupt practices, so it was the need of the hour to replace it with E-tendering so as corruption oriented manual tendering could effectively and permanently be eliminated.
When Maryam Nawaz Sharif took charge as the Chief Minister Punjab, she decided to save even the single penny of public, which seemed mirrored in her directions she had been giving in her meetings conducted from time to time. She took steps to minimise the corrupt practices.
She had two tasks before her. One, she had to set up new state-of-the-art infrastructures and to renovate the existing dilapidated infrastructure on modern style. Secondly, she wanted to introduce such technology which could effectively make the entire process of infrastructure transparent with the aim of saving the public money.
So, before the commencement of the development projects in roads and public sectors, she instructed the Communication and Works Department of the province to take forthwith steps to replace manual process of tendering with E-tendering.
Minister for Communication and Works Punjab Malik Sohaib Ahmed Berth, being young, energetic, and foreign qualified, along with Secretary Sohail Ashraf took the lead and supervised the shifting process of tenders from manual to E-technology. The Punjab Information Technology Board was engaged with a request to develop a comprehensive software for E-tendering.
The expert team observed the manual process thoroughly and minutely and traced out loopholes for corruptions like overcharging on bid documents, difficulty in obtaining bid documents, restriction in information, poll system, issues of CDR return, on database of blacklist contractors and others.
There was no direct management for monitoring of the tenders, and they were held on different days and at different places across the province. Keeping in view, the PITB team developed software of E-tendering, covering all loopholes effectively and ensuring transparency in tender system.
The E-tendering gave opportunity to every individual, fulfilling the required criteria and sitting any where in the country to see tenders online and to give his bid against a scheme within stipulated date and time. With the introduction of E-tendering in the Communication and Works Department, all corrupt practices of tender process had been eliminated and a system of transparency had been introduced.
The Communication and Works Department Punjab has completed the E-tendering process of more than 500 road and building sectors schemes which the CM Punjab Maryam Nawaz Sharif approved since she has joined her office. One may astonish to know that a huge amount of approximately Rs28 billion has been saved through E-tendering process, showing this huge amount would have been wasted and gone into pockets of some corrupt individuals and causing sever loss the government exchequers if E-tender Process has not been adopted timely as per the vision of the CM Punjab. No doubt, the government now has the option to utilize the saved and secured amount on other public welfare projects.
The E-Tender method has attained multiple successes like elimination of overcharging on documents, elimination of poll system, availability of proper information, maintaining the database of blacklist contractors, no political interference and direct monitoring by authorities about the process of tenders.
The way the Punjab Government is heading towards e-technology will surely revolutionise the governance and will certainly bring better infrastructure in the province which will not only provide better facilities but also soothing environment to masses of the province. The performance shown by the CM Punjab in a short span of time is remarkable and the way through which pilferages are being controlled will lead to saving the public money for which the Punjab government is custodian.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024