Luanda - The Minister of Public Administration, Labour and Social Security, Teresa Rodrigues Dias, on Friday in Luanda defended the strengthening of the control and supervision mechanisms of the works of the Integrated Plan for Intervention in Municipalities (PIIM), through the application of the rules and principles of public procurement.
Speaking at the opening of the seminar on Public Procurement Practices for PIIM Managers, she said it was also important to allocate resources in municipalities in order to achieve the objectives set out in the PIIM.
According to the minister, in order to ensure transparency and fairness in the performance of public entities and in the management and allocation of public resources, at the initiative of the Executive, the National Assembly approved Law No. 41/20, of 23 September, Public Procurement Law.
Teresa Rodrigues Dias pointed out that public procurement procedures must remain linked to the fundamental rules and principles set out in the aforementioned Law, such as the principles of legality, pursuit of the public interest, proportionality, good faith and responsibility.
She explained that, within the scope of the implementation of the PIIM, public procurement is presented as an instrument of capital importance, both in ensuring compliance with good corporate governance practices in the formation and execution of public contracts, and in the supervision and accountability of the parties involved in contractual relations.
The minister advised the managers of the PIIM, to promote with the competent entities, the accountability of those companies that, at the level of the country, evade complying with their legal and contractual obligations, assumed within the scope of the materialization of this Program, through the timely activation of the mechanisms and guarantees provided for in the Public Procurement Law.
In the minister's view, the bodies responsible for the control and supervision of these public works should strengthen their mechanisms and follow-up, bringing to the public all cases that demonstrate legal non-compliance, so that society, as a beneficiary of the services of this Programme, can perceive the scrupulous engagement of the Executive in the Programme, with a view to improving their living conditions.
The minister said that, on June 27, 2019, the President of the Republic and Shead of the Executive Power presented the Integrated Plan for Intervention in Municipalities (PIIM) and outlined more than a plan: she designed the guidelines with a view to positively transforming life in the municipalities, applying the slogan: 'Life is made in the municipalities'.
She added that for its operationalization at the national level, with a view to ensuring the alignment of the strategic guidelines, the Inter-ministerial Coordination Commission of the PIIM is constituted, which was created through Presidential Order No. 62/20, of 24 April.
Teresa Rodrigues Dias said that it was an ambitious and vast program with a strong economic and social impact, which initially included 1,749 (one thousand, seven hundred and forty-nine) projects distributed across the 164 (one hundred and sixty-four) Municipalities of the country and which has allowed construction and equipping of many infrastructures from scratch and the rehabilitation of others.
She informed that roads, schools, hospitals, police stations, electricity networks, water supplying systems are among other infrastructures already built or under construction for the provision of basic services to citizens and greater development of communities.
As an example, she mentioned the gains obtained in the context of the implementation of PIIM, “we refer to the province of Bié, which in 2018, before the implementation of PIIM, had 16,123 children outside the Teaching and Learning System and, in 2021, thanks to the schools built through this Program, this number was reduced to 3,000 children only.
The minister highlighted that this Plan has generated numerous jobs that, despite being temporary, has been contributing to reducing unemployment levels in the country, providing technically and professionally training to workers, as well as income for many families.
Teresa Rodrigues Dias emphasized that PIIM has made it possible to increase the autonomy of municipalities and the gradual and systematic increase in monitoring and monitoring mechanisms for the Projects that it integrates.
“However, the success of this important Program cannot be achieved without scrupulous observance of good public procurement practices, which by definition correspond to a set of acts and formalities relating to the formation, production and conclusion of full legal effectiveness of a public contract, aiming to always satisfying collective needs”, she said. HEMPPA/TED/DOJ
