Efforts afoot to increase transparency in tendering process, says mayor

In a bid to bring transparency in the tendering process, the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) will sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Sindh Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (SPPRA) so the KMC officers could perform duties properly in accordance with the relevant rules and regulations while also making sure that the development works were being done in an effective manner, said Karachi Mayor Waseem Akhtar on Tuesday.

He was speaking as chief guest at the inaugural ceremony of the two-day training workshop on ‘Capacity Building on SPPRA Rules’ which was held for KMC officers at the City Institute of Image Management (CIIM), KMC.

SPPRA managing director Khalid Chachar, director capacity building Javed Sibghat Mehar, deputy director Ayub Ali Qaimkhani, Imam Ali Qadri, Imran Razzak, KMC works committee chairman Hassan Naqvi, senior director municipal services Nauman Arshad, director technical to Mayor Karachi S M Shakaib, director CIIM Mohammad Shahid and other officers were present on the occasion.

The city mayor urged the participants to avail the opportunity to enhance their capabilities and complete these modules in such a way that could help them perform their tendering works in an excellent way.

He said this was the first time in the history of KMC that such training was being arranged to help the officers to understand the technicalities of the tendering process and to bring transparency in the execution of development and other works.

SPPRA managing director Khalid Chachar thanked the city mayor for arranging this workshop and assured all possible support. He said the SPPRA would soon sign a MoU with the KMC to arrange a ‘SPPRA Certified Training Facility’ in CIIM. Director technical S M Shakaib said the training was attended by 35 KMC officers from 10 departments who had been assigned the duty in the tendering process.  

Mayor thanks president

Karachi Mayor Waseem Akhtar has thanked President Mamnoon Hussain for allocation of Rs40 million for construction of the Anjuman-e-Taraqqi-e-Urdu Pakistan office’s new building in the metropolitan.

During a visit of the under-construction building named ‘Urdu Bagh’ on Wednesday, he said: “Urdu is our national language and it gives us our identity therefore we need to promote it on every level.”

The mayor was welcomed by the association’s honorary president, Zulqarnain Jamil, and honorary secretary Dr Fatima Hassan. Later, the city mayor reviewed the under-construction road in front of the Anjuman-e-Taraqqi-e-Urdu Pakistan’s building and different portions of the organisation’s office.

He said encroachments set up around this building would be removed and measures would be taken for cleanliness around it. “The Anjuman has been providing great services for the support and promotion of Urdu and now the construction of its new office building will further help it continue its endeavours in a more effective manner,” Akhar said.

“Urdu is the language which brings all of us together and creates harmony and unity among the people living in all parts of our country,” he added. Dr Fatima Hassan said the country president would inaugurate the association’s new building in the current month.