ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has ordered third-party validation of all development projects with outlay exceeding Rs2 billion to bring transparency to the procurement process.

The premier issued the directive on Saturday while chairing a review meeting on electronic procurement, e-Pak acquisition, and disposal system/e-PADS at the Prime Minister’s Secretariat.

He directed the authorities to ensure third-party validation to make the grievances and concerns redressal system effective in the procurement process. He said the government is taking concrete steps to ensure transparency in all kinds of procurement procedures.

The premier said the system for redressal of complaints about procurement should be outside the procuring agency and also directed measures for amendments to the rules and regulations in this regard.

PM Shehbaz expressed dissatisfaction over the delay in implementing the e-procurement project and directed that it be completed within a month. He was briefed that the e-procurement project was started in 2017 with funding from the World Bank.

The meeting was told that the total project cost of e-procurement is $45 million, and it has been implemented in 37 ministries and over 300 procuring agencies of the federal government so far.

FBR group to achieve Rs13tr target

In a separate development, FBR Chairman Rashid Mahmood Langrial has set up a 32-member working group to identify revenue collection gaps and opportunities for enhancement to meet this year’s target.

The working group, comprising 22 officers from the Inland Revenue Service and 10 from Pakistan Customs, began work on Saturday and would have its first meeting on Aug 30. It has two weeks to complete its report on clearly identifying gaps in existing taxes (income tax, sales tax, federal excise duty, and customs duty). The committee will then suggest interventions and quantify the expected revenue resulting from such interventions.

According to a notification, the working group will deliberate on crucial reform areas of tax administration to meet this year’s tax collection targets. The reform areas include procedures/machines, human resources, administration and taxpayer facilitation.

The FBR chairman told Dawn that he has devised a sound plan to maximise revenue based on dependable estimates. Unlike previous traditions, he stated that the approach would be local and consider ground realities rather than copying any developed countries’ model.

The group will operate in three phases: first, it will identify potential gaps in the present tax system, followed by the second phase, which will determine the timeline for the intervention to close the loopholes. In the third and final step, the working group will quantify the potential outcomes of the intervention in terms of additional revenue.

Mr Langrial stated that a new working group has been formed to focus solely on tax data analytics. Data analytics will assist in finding potential gaps in the tax system. The focus of analysis will be on income tax and sales tax.

In the budget for FY25, the government projected a collection target of Rs12.9 trillion, more than 41pc higher than the collection set for FY24. The government believes that the automated revenue collection will be Rs11.1tr in FY25.

Published in Dawn, August 25th, 2024