ISLAMABAD, March 21: A total of 23 mega projects under the current year’s development programme are problematic and moving slow and another 23 per cent of the projects with over Rs100 million cost do not have independent project directors. This was stated by Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Dr Akram Sheikh at a news conference here on Tuesday.

He said some of the major water sector projects like Gomal Zam, Satpara and Mirani dams were also among the slow moving projects, while Mangla dam raising project was catching up its schedule.

He said 12 out of the 23 slow-moving projects were in the infrastructure, five in water sector and the remaining projects were in Balochistan. The main cause of the slow pace of the projects in Balochistan was law and order situation.

His aides explained that 156 projects having estimated cost of Rs500 million and above were considered as mega projects and form 60 per cent of the total Rs204 billion public sector development programme (PSDP). In all there were 1,500 small and big projects in the PSDP 2005-06.

He said the National Economic Council (NEC) had decided about two years ago to appoint independent project directors (PDs) to monitor projects costing Rs100 million and above, but 23 per cent of the projects were still without PDs.

He, however, said that some of the schemes did not require PDs.

He conceded that large projects should not be delayed because of their impact on economy and hence the government wanted to complete them within the schedule and cost to achieve its objectives. Delay in Mangla dam raising project would cause Rs17 billion annual loss to the economy, he added.

Dr Sheikh said the utilization of current year’s PSDP funds stood at Rs76.2 billion (37.3 per cent) till Dec 31, 2005 as per final accounts audited by the AGPR which increased to Rs99 billion (48.5 per cent) on Feb 28, 2006.