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Twenty-five foreign-funded major projects of a total 123 have been moving at snail pace due to red tape and bottle-necks. Foreign agencies have pledged to fund US$ 3,300 million for 123 projects and the utilisation of these foreign funds is about US$ 1,200 million.

However, the Ministry of Plan Implementation has prepared a comprehensive plan to monitor the progress of all these projects and remove bottle-necks which have hindered its smooth implementation.

The Ministry plans to assign one officer per project to monitor them under 56 Ministries other than the foreign funded projects. When asked the reason for delay, Ministry Secretary Ajith Nivard Cabraal said that some loan covenants were too stringent, tender procedures and procurement delays, problem in land acquisition and handing over and dearth of project officers have contributed for the snail space in many projects.

"I am not happy about the slow implementation of 25 foreign funded projects. Steps will be taken to clear all bottle-necks and red tapes to get the 123 projects towards maximum implementation", he noted.

(JSN)

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