Business

Tuesday October 27, 2009

Need for proper purchasing system to curb budget deficit

By DAVID TAN


GEORGE TOWN: The Government should look into plugging the gaps of its purchasing system to curb budget deficit rather than consider the introduction of the goods and services tax.

Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers (Northern) chairman Datuk O.K. Lee said a proper purchasing system for items of certain value and open tender for projects must be put into place to reduce the budget deficit.

“We cannot just have direct negotiation between the project contractor and the Government, which provides the contract.

“If the contractor did not get the contract, he could always bad mouth the Government for being unfair. An open tendering process would give the Government some defence mechanism to protect itself,” he spoke in response to the Starprobe stories on billions of ringgit lost every year through excessive payments for contracts and procurements.

Penang Ratepayers’ Association chairman Datuk Eddy Choong said such wastage had been in existence for a long time.

“The Attorney-General has done its job by pointing out the problems in the reports.

“But the wastage problems have continued due to the lack of action from the various government departments responsible for approving such contracts and purchases,” he said.

Penang Consumers’ Protection Association vice-president Koris Atan said there was no point in identifying the problems in reports and not do anything about them.

“The Public Services Department has recommended that the parties responsible for approving the purchase of items and contracts with exorbitant pricing be levied a surcharge,” he said.

“This is a good recommendation and should be implemented to curb excessive spending by the Government.”

He said in India, the policemen, when faced with a suit, would have to fork out their own money to pay for any liabilities.

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