Saudi Shoura Council to discuss crackdown on project wastage

Saudi Arabia’s Shoura Council will today discuss a proposal to crack down on waste in public works and infrastructure, according to reports.

Saudi Gazette said the proposal was presented by former member Juran Al-Qahtani due to concerns over the squandering of public funds in government projects that have yet to be completed or were implemented poorly.

He blamed a lack of proper planning, coordination and oversight from the government, the inability of some departments to execute projects and a lack of experience among many contractors for much of the wastage, according to the publication.

“The citizen has not felt the impact of these projects on which the government has spent huge sums of money,” Al-Qahtani was quoted as saying.

The former member said the implementation of 850 projects of 1,035 from 1992 to 2009 had faltered, while the cost of projects increased by about 41 per cent and 82 percent were behind schedule.

Government spending on roads and bridges has increased to more than SAR100bn ($26.6bn) in recent years, he added, accusing contractors of seeking personal gains.

Saudi gazette cited a Control and Investigations Board report released in 2013 as saying 127 projects were behind schedule in the country with a report from the National Anti-Corruption Commission suggesting the value of faltering projects was more than SAR40bn.

Other reports that year indicated the value of cancelled projects was more than SAR196bn and the cost of projects stopped half way was SAR176bn.