17 October 2004	Sunday	02 Ramazan 1425

ISLAMABAD, Oct 16: The government will set up a special Project Management Unit (PMU) in the Central Board of Revenue (CBR) for the smooth functioning and effective implementation of the proposed tax administration reform programme (TARP).

Officials in the CBR told Dawn on Friday that the setting up of PMU was one of the components of the agreement, the tax officials recently signed with the World Bank in Washington.

Under the agreement, the World Bank would give a concessional loan of Rs7.193 billion for the implementation of the TARP project. While government of Pakistan would allocate Rs2.307 billion for the same project.

Of these Rs9.500 billion, the tax authorities would spend Rs938.925 million on technical assistance for the implementation of the reform project; Rs3.177 billion on customized software; Rs2.059 billion on computer hardware/allied equipment; Rs1.406 billion on infrastructure development including design and supervision; Rs175.500 million on automobiles; Rs585.150 million on training of officials; Rs178.846 million on programme management.

Officials said that for utilization of the fund, the CBR has worked out a detailed strategy, which would be implemented in the next four to five years for the complete restructuring of the tax administration.

According to the officials, to support the programme manager services of experienced persons from the planning division, ministry of housing and works, auditor general of Pakistan have been requisitioned for project implementation and monitoring the procurement and payment process.

Elaborating further, they said that consultancy firm will be hired for design and supervision of refurbishment activities for establishment of large taxpayers unit (LTU), Regional Taxpayers Offices (RTOs), Tax Facilitation Centres (TFCs), Model Customs Collectorates and construction of Transit Accommodation with LTUs and RTOs.

Specialized firm will be hired for customization of software and supply of hardware as well as technical assistance for business process re-engineering and other fields of direct taxes, sales tax and customs.

For enhancing the professional skills of the tax officers/staff, comprehensive training programme has been chalked out, which would include 2685 local training and 63 foreign trainings. The training will be provided in the areas of strategic planning, management skills, leadership, team building, customer services, product training, communication skills and strategic change management.