Tamale, April 17, GNA - Public organisations that fail to prepare their procurement plans are to be denied budgetary allocation to undertake their development projects.

This is because the new Procurement Act and Procedures demand that public entities develop their procurement plans indicating projects they intend to execute and their cost estimates.

Mr Baba Imoru Abdulai, Zonal Coordinator of the Rural Infrastructure Coordinating Unit of the Ministry of Local Government Rural Development and Environment (MLGRDE) said this at a two-day training workshop for staff of the Tamale Metropolitan Assembly on the "Procurement Act and Procedures", in Tamale on Tuesday. The Northern Region Poverty Reduction Programme (NORPREP) and the Community Based Rural Development Programme (CBRDP) jointly organised and funded the workshop.

The Metropolitan Chief Executive, the Metropolitan Coordinating Director, Presiding Member, Planning officer, Budget officer, Internal Auditor, Storekeeper and selected staff of decentralised departments of the Tamale Metropolitan Assembly, attended the forum. Mr Abdulai said the workshop was to equip the participants with the knowledge and skills required to recruit consultants and contractors to implement sub-projects identified by the beneficiary communities. Mrs Amama Habib, Human Resource Development Specialist of NORPREP, said through such training workshops, her outfit and CBRDP were assisting government in the implementation of the decentralisation policy.

She said the training would equip the staff of the Metropolitan Assembly and the decentralised departments with the necessary tools to implement demand driven community projects such as clinics, schools and boreholes. 17 April 07