LUSAKA, Oct. 11 (Xinhua) -- The Zambian government had developed guidelines on the operations of a board to be constituted which will be approving all public investment projects before their implementation, a senior official said on Thursday.
The establishment of the Public Finance Board is part of wider government plans to improve management of public finances.
The board will, among other things, be approving all public investment projects before their implementation as part of austerity measures announced earlier this year.
The board will also be scrutinizing cost implications between the envisaged outcomes and financial input of any public project as well as make recommendations on the most feasible financing modalities.
Minister of National Development Planning Alexander Chiteme said the ministry has developed the terms of reference and guidelines for the operations of the board and that a team for the board has been constituted which will be announced once cabinet approves.
He further said a total of 25 government officers have been trained in various aspects of project appraisal, including financial and economic analysis as well as stakeholder and risky analysis.
According to him, at the core of implementing austerity measures announced by the government was to have in place a sieving point for all projects to ascertain their worthiness in order to bring order into the economy on how projects are conceived, selected and implemented and whether they will meet the requirements of transforming lives of beneficiaries.
