Restructuring the Economy – Part 4

As I continue to look at the area of restructuring the economy I mention briefly a few areas of consideration.  First the government needs to look at its use of real estate.  The government owns many properties which are empty or underutilized while at the same time it is paying rent for other premises which it occupies.

Secondly, it is time to implement the recommendations of the energy audit in order to save costs as well as much needed foreign exchange.  Many offices are inefficient when it comes to electricity usage and action needs to be taken now.  At the same time attention should be paid to how the departments can cut their telephone and water costs. Many government agencies hire consultants for various services, these contracts should be reviewed in order to be sure that they are not for services that the agency staff should be doing.

Consideration should also be given to buying insurance for schools, hospitals, police stations, etc.  When disasters occur there is often no money to effect repairs and the cost of replacement is much higher than what the premiums would have been.  It may be more cost effective to insure some of the most vulnerable/essential areas of government.

Too much money is wasted on road repairs due to improper planning.  The same road is often dug up and repaved three or four times by different government agencies. Whenever the road is to be dug up all agencies should be contacted to ensure that all work is done so that the road only has to be repaired once.  In addition more attention needs to be paid to the work of the contractors who fix the road.  Often within a few months the road has started to sink or the repairs have washed loose and another contract is issued to repair the road.  There needs to be more supervision and enforcement of the repairs to the road to ensure that the work is done properly.

There are many other areas of savings. My aim here is not to criticize the government but to encourage them to look for those areas of saving which are so badly needed at this time.