CYBERJAYA: The Finance Ministry is set to work with all ministries to improve their operational efficiency in terms of project implementation, following the Auditor General’s 2016 Report Series 2 released yesterday.
Treasury secretary-general Tan Sri Dr Mohd Irwan Serigar Abdullah said the report did not emphasised on fraud or misuse of funds, instead it focused on the poor performances by several ministries and government agencies.
“The report mainly touched on operational aspects and certain areas that needed to be tightened up.
“We will work with all ministries, Chief Secretary to the Government (Tan Sri Dr Ali Hamsa) and secretaries-general, to study how we can improve the operational efficiency.
“There is nothing on misuse of funds or anything like that,” he told reporters after the soft launch of eFM online radio station at Futurise Centre, here.
During the tabling of the report in Dewan Rakyat yesterday, Auditor-General Tan Sri Dr Madinah Mohamad said there were 240 recommendations being made, aimed at correcting and improving weaknesses in the public sector.
She said 74 of the recommendations related to activities of federal ministries, departments and statutory bodies; 36 were on management of federal government companies and agencies; and 130 were on activities management by ministries, departments, agencies and management of state government companies.
The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) said it would summon Youth and Sports Ministry to clarify expenditure on the construction of a sporting venue. PAC will also summon Rural and Regional Development Ministry; Bintulu Port Authority and Malaysian Venture Capital Management Bhd.
On another matter, Irwan said the government has started to carry out several programmes and projects as highlighted in the 2018 Budget such as Women Empowerment and 1Malaysia People’s Aid (BR1M) programmes.
“We have just launched the Women Empowerment programme to ensure that 30 per cent of board directors in government-linked companies, government-linked investment companies and statutory bodies consist of women.
“We have also opened the application for 2018 BR1M scheme. For some development projects which have been approved by the government, we start off with the design work and pre-tender first. This will expedite the project implementation,” he said.
On the eFM online radio station, he said it is an initiative by Global Entrepreneurship Movement to inspire, educate and inform entrepreneurs by providing business insights and entrepreneurial trends.
Irwan said eFM would provide a platform for the entrepreneurs to communicate and share knowledge on entrepreneurship.
Hosted by celebrity Nana Mahazan, eFM can be reached via www.eFM.live.