Cabinet to get action plan to transform public sector

President O'Neil Grant

The long-awaited transformation of the public sector appears to be in its final strides, with the Government pledging to submit to Cabinet, by the end of this month, an action plan with specific timelines for implementation. In a statement to Parliament yesterday, Finance and the Public Service Minister Audley Shaw said the plan would set out time-bound actions to improve efficiency in the public sector, through shared corporate services and the closure, merger and privatisation of some State-owned entities. At the same time, the Government has approved a new organisational structure for the Accountant General's Department. According to Shaw, this is part of the administration's efforts to strengthen public financial management. He said the Accountant General's Department, which leased a section of the former Oceana Hotel in Kingston, would start to occupy the premises on a phased basis beginning next week. He said a November 7 deadline has been set for the department to fully occupy the building.
In a wide-ranging presentation, Shaw also commented on plans by the Government to inject an additional US$40 million into the Major Infrastructure Development Programme (MIDP), which operates out of the National Works Agency. The Government had initially allocated some US$61 million in the budget for the programme.

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