Ongoing projects on slow track now under the axe
All ongoing and in-the-pipeline development and infrastructure projects are to reviewed and implemented on a priority basis as the progress of some of those have failed to achieve expected targets after spending millions of rupees, according to a Treasury report.
The government has decided to revisit and even suspend several of these local and foreign funding projects due to high costs and slow progress in the implementation, State Minister of Finance Ajith Nivard Cabraal told a high level official meeting recently.
He noted that most of these slow progressing projects were under review in accordance with the government policy.
Around 800 ongoing development and infrastructure projects launched by the previous regime will be continued as those were nearing completion, he disclosed.
Total allocation to implement 1,257on-going projects and programmes as at the end of 2019 was Rs. 893.24 billion; out of this, Rs. 702.84 billion is indicated in the Budget estimate-2019 for 1,096 on-going projects and programmes, Treasury statistics showed,
Annual allocation for 242 projects and programmes assisted by foreign development partners (foreign funded) was Rs.452.69 billion (51per cent of total allocation) and Rs. 440, 54 billion (49 per cent of total allocation) was allocated for 1,015 locally funded projects and programmes in 2019.
Some 47 projects and programmes which should have been completed by the end 2019 but achieved less than 25 per cent of cumulative physical progress are to be revisited, the report recommended.
A final decision will be taken regarding the future of these projects by considering the remaining and completed work of the approved scope and; cost-benefit of their continuation.
There are 192 projects and programmes, which have achieved less than 50 per cent of cumulative physical progress by the end of year 2019.
It is recommended to establish a strong monitoring and supervision mechanism by the respective executing agencies (line ministries) in order to avoid wastage of resources due to delay in implementation and; ensure the delivery of expected benefits of these investments in order to fulfill the expectations of beneficiaries.
All large and mega scale investment projects are expected to be implemented on-schedule, because most of them are heavy investments with high-priorities in national development, the report said.
It is observed that 33 per cent (120 out of 360) large and mega scale projects and programmes are in the range of 0-75 per cent of cumulative physical progress by the end of 2019.
22 large and mega scale investment projects have achieved less than 25 per cent cumulative progress while 35 such other projects are in the range of 26-50 per cent of cumulative progress.
Therefore, the Treasury has recommended reviewing the implementation issues of all large and mega projects and facilitating their smooth implementation.