Meeting of the Council of Ministers on July 27th, 2022
Presidency of the Council of Ministers
Eighth Constitutional Government
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Press Release
Meeting of the Council of Ministers on July 27th, 2022
The Council of Ministers met, at the Government Palace, in Dili, and approved the draft Decree-Law, presented by the Minister of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers, Fidelis Manuel Leite Magalhães, regarding the Remuneration Supplement to public servants and agents of the Public Administration that exercise training functions in Public Administration.
This draft Decree-Law aims to establish a scheme capable of financially compensating the added responsibility and complexity of civil servants and administrative agents involved in general or specialized training. This new supplement enhances the use of the existing training capacity within the national Public Administration, thus contributing to the rationalization of national resources.
The hourly value of the trainer's supplement will be set according to the degree of functional complexity of the trainees' careers. The entity responsible for paying this supplement is the entity responsible for carrying out the training or the entity financing it.
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The draft Decree-Law, presented by the Minister of Finance, Rui Augusto Gomes, was approved. It aims to establish the Legal Regime of the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) of Diagnostic Services.
The purpose of this draft Decree-Law is to establish a legal framework specifically applicable to the PPP agreement regarding the services of laboratory and imaging diagnostics, defining a more flexible and appropriate regime for the collaboration of a private partner in the provision of public services, providing mechanisms to ensure the sustainability, risk allocation, operability and quality of services to be provided to the population, to establish a clear, fair, predictable and stable legal framework that will stimulate and attract private investment and guarantee the provision of public laboratory and imaging diagnostic services.
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The Council of Ministers approved the draft Government Resolution, also presented by the Minister of Finance, which sets the maximum amounts payable for the acquisition of real estate and the loss of buildings, improvements, forestry and crops and for the cessation of livestock, fishing and salt collection activities in the implementation area of the Presidente Nicolau Lobato International Airport upgrading project.
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Also approved was the draft Decree-Law, presented by the Minister of Public Works, Abel Pires da Silva, for the first amendment to Decree-Law No. 11/2006 of April 12th, regarding the establishment of the Timor-Leste’s Institute Equipment Management (IGE - Portuguese Acronyms) and approval of its Statutes.
This amendment aims to make IGE's statutes compatible with the Decree-Law on the Organization of Direct and Indirect Administration, with the Organic Law of the 8th Constitutional Government, and to grant new competencies that will allow maximizing IGE's resources, improving the public service provided by the State to its citizens.
Thus, the competencies and attributions that the IGE has been carrying out over the years in support of many situations requiring immediate intervention to restore safe road traffic and prevent flooding by cleaning and normalizing streams are now enshrined. This institution has the necessary equipment to perform these tasks, and also has the technical knowledge and experience in the field to be able to perform, as part of its duties, not only the previously planned management of heavy equipment but also roadway maintenance activities, de-silting and cleaning of rivers, streams and stabilization of banks and slopes.
With this Decree-Law, the figure of the Executive Director is established, with competence for the direction and management of IGE's services following the guidelines of its Board of Directors. It is also attributed to the Chairman of the Board of Directors of IGE the competence to approve the expenditure, authorize and approve procurement and sign contracts, by the law.
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The Council of Ministers approved the draft Decree-Law, presented by the Minister of State Administration, Miguel Pereira de Carvalho and by the Minister of Education, Youth and Sports, Armindo Maia, to approve the School Meals Program.
The School Meal Programme is a subsidy granted within the scope of school social action, aimed at ensuring the right to a daily meal with healthy and balanced food content, essential to the development and encourage the participation of children in preschool education and basic education, public and private, integrated into the public network of public service supply, located in the national territory, to promote their teaching and learning process. Under this programme, meals will be provided to pupils at preschool and primary education establishments, public and private, integrated into the public network of public service provision, located in the national territory.
The subsidies attributed within the scope of this Programme have the nature of public grants and take the form of a food subsidy, which is intended exclusively for the purchase of foodstuffs, and an administrative subsidy, which is intended to support expenses with administrative charges arising from the implementation of the Programme.
The implementers of the School Meals Programme are the public and private pre-school and basic education establishments integrated into the public service supply network, located in the national territory and the community organisations, community groups or similar, namely associations without legal personality.
The amount of the subsidy granted under the School Meals Program is set at US$ 0.42 per school day and student.
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Lastly, the draft Resolution Proposal of the National Parliament for the ratification of the Millennium Challenge compact agreement, presented by the Minister of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers, Fidelis Manuel Leite Magalhães, was also approved.
This cooperation pact, which was signed last July 19th, will be executed over five years and has a global amount of US$ 484 million.
The programme will focus on two main components, one on improving the water, sanitation and drainage system and the other on education and training. The first component aims to reduce the contamination of drinking water and groundwater, which can cause illness and impede the well-being and health of children and adults. This component includes the building of a factory to produce chemical disinfectants for the city water supply, the construction of the country's first central wastewater system, the improvement of the drainage network for the capital Dili and four neighbouring municipalities, policy and institutional reforms as well as social and behavioural changes to improve the sanitation system and water management at the household level. The second component aims to improve the quality of high school education for students by improving high school teaching and school leadership. The project will establish the country's first formal initial teacher training certification institution, the Centre of Excellence, which will provide professional training and certification for prospective and current high school teachers and leaders. Investing in teacher training will lead to better high schools, with students who will be better prepared for jobs or post-secondary education and thus improve their ability to contribute to the country's economic growth. END
