Administrative corruption dominates investment projects, and completion rates are almost non-existen

[size=52]Administrative corruption dominates investment projects, and completion rates are almost non-existent[/size]

[size=45]Baghdad / Hussein Hatem[/size]
[size=45]Few days left, not exceeding thirty days, until the end of the work of Parliament and the Federal Government, and there are still thousands of stalled and stalled projects that have not been completed during the duration of the Parliament, and the two governments represented by former Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi and the current Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kazemi.[/size]
[size=45]While parliamentarians say that a step has been taken within the 2021 budget in order that the early elections do not affect the financial allocations for lagging and stalled projects by transferring all amounts of projects prepared and lagging at the end of this September within the governorates’ accounts to proceed with the progress of projects. According to the National Investment Commission, the completion rate of more than 1,000 investment projects is “zero”, while the completion rate in 800 other projects is about 5%, out of 2,300 projects that are the total investment projects in the country.[/size]
[size=45]According to the authority, the government’s decision to stop investment projects with a completion rate of 30%, which was taken earlier, led to the withdrawal of leave from 40 to 50 projects as a first package, while the second package of project permits, which exceeds the number of the first package, will be withdrawn next Thursday.[/size]
[size=45]A member of the Parliamentary Services and Construction Committee, Abbas Al-Atafi, said in an interview with Al-Mada that “many projects distributed in the governorates are randomly assigned to companies that are unable to implement them, despite the urgent need for these projects.”[/size]
[size=45]Al-Atafi added, “The House of Representatives took a step within the 2021 budget in order that early elections would not affect the financial allocations for these projects,” noting that “Parliament set a paragraph within the budget that includes transferring all amounts of projects prepared and lagging on September 30th within the governorates accounts. So that the projects do not stop at the formation of the new government and the new parliament.”[/size]
[size=45]The member of the Parliamentary Services pointed out, “The projects that were awarded to companies and then stopped after their negative returns, most of their files have been opened with the Integrity Commission and other competent authorities,” holding “responsibility to the executive authorities that referred those projects.”[/size]
[size=45]Al-Atafi believes, "There are strategic projects that were lagging and stalled that were put forward during the current parliamentary session and discussed and addressed with the executive governments," noting that "most of these projects have reached advanced stages, especially water and road projects (..)", pointing out to Some projects will enter service within a maximum period of three months.[/size]
[size=45]The member of the House of Representatives hopes, “to take actual steps to resolve the projects that are more than 5 years old with the companies executing them,” noting that “these projects are operational and need a decision by the Council of Ministers to resolve them.”[/size]
[size=45]In turn, a member of the Parliamentary Committee on Economy and Investment, Nada Shaker Jawdat, said in an interview with (Al-Mada), that "75% of the projects were granted customs exemptions and their lands and were not implemented on the ground," noting that "the supervisory authorities for these projects perform poorly and lack accountability."[/size]
[size=45]Jawdat added, "Administrative corruption dominated the projects, which increased the percentage of lagging projects," noting that "the completion rate of important projects is almost non-existent."[/size]
[size=45]The member of the House of Representatives indicated, “Some projects remained simple stages of completion, but they stopped working without reasons,” noting that “the Turkish hospital in Wasit reached 70% of the achievement not long ago, and work stopped to complete the remaining percentage of the project.” . Jawdat asserts, "The cessation of projects led to the destruction of economic sectors and increased the rate of poverty and unemployment, especially in the central and southern governorates," adding that "the reform of Iraq in the first place requires economic reform."[/size]
[size=45]At the end of last August, the head of the Parliamentary Services Committee, Walid Al-Sahlani, acknowledged the persistence of the problem of lagging projects that were not completed in many sectors, including health, water and electricity, and infrastructure projects in major cities, especially the capital, Baghdad, stressing that corruption is a major reason for the delay in projects. General, and starts from referring those projects to weak companies.[/size]
[size=45]Al-Sahlani added, “The previous government confirmed that the percentage of waste in public money amounted to more than 300 billion Iraqi dinars (about 200 million dollars) as a result of the lagging projects that were referred to companies that were unable to complete them,” noting that “the previous government confirmed that the percentage of waste In public money, it amounted to about 200 million dollars as a result of the lagging projects that were referred to companies that were unable to complete them.”[/size]
[size=45]It is noteworthy that the government of Adel Abdul-Mahdi (2018-2019) had formed the “Supreme Anti-Corruption Council” to follow up on various issues, including waste due to lagging projects, but it did not accomplish anything in this file.[/size]
[size=45]Last August, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Borisov and Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein agreed on the return of Russian companies to work on a number of projects in Iraq.[/size]
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