PPADB faces funding challenges
Isaac Pinielo | Thursday November 3, 2016 18:00
In the latest annual report for 2016, PPADB executive chairperson Bridget John said funding is increasingly becoming a constraint on the Board’s ability to carry out its mandate.
During the previous financial year, she said, the board projected a budget deficit as the subvention from the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development and the internally generated funds forecast were insufficient to cater for all prioritised planned projects for the financial year. “These were once-off projects expected to cost P13 million including research and consultancies, ICT equipment such as servers, and related expenditure in preparation for the opening of the Francistown office,” John said.
She said authority was sought and granted by the ministry for the board to fund the additional expenditure from its cumulated reserves.
Furthermore, John said, due to budgetary constraints, the additional Integrated Procurement Management System (IPMS) project funding from the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development of P2.5 million for the year was not released and had to be funded from the PPADB reserves following consultation with the ministry.
According to the executive chairperson, the cost containment implemented by the board during the year resulted in a deficit of P14.5 million being funded from the board’s reserves against the expected deficit of P15.5 million. “The board is committed to having a balanced budget hence it is not anticipated that there would be any deficit in future unless it is authorised by the shareholder,” she said. She further indicated that the board does not anticipate a significant build up in cash balances beyond what management would have set side for the funding of accrued liabilities such as gratuity and other terminal benefits, as well as obligations to our creditors.”
However, she noted that the board will continue to exercise a heightened level of financial discipline to contain expenditure within approved operation budget limits.
In the year under review, PPADB generated P19.3 million which was higher than the previous year’s income of P12.9 million. Overall, the board raised 36% revenue through cost recovery initiatives against a target of 10%. This amount was generated from registration of contractors (P17.2 million), capacity building workshops (P1.2 million) and interest income (P902, 974).
Apart from the funding challenges, PPADB also experienced a number of challenges including delays in addressing some of the tender related complaints, late initiation of procurement by some procuring entities, delays in the evaluation of tenders and responding to board’s queries.