ADDIS ABABA – The Ministry of Finance announced that the country has lost some 43 billion Birr in the last ten to 15 years due to delays in development projects and cost overrun.
Haji Ibsa, Communication and Public Relations Director at the Ministry told The Ethiopian Herald that absence of timetable for the completion of projects and compulsory law that holds government institutions and project contractors responsible for delays as well as lack of proper project study and effective evaluation and monitoring mechanism are the major reasons that caused the delay.
Meanwhile, the reduction in inefficient expenses, such as unnecessary hotel and conference hall rents and purchase of electronic materials, has helped the ministry to save over 600 million birr in cost overrun.
This is an outcome of the fact that project profile of capital projects has been prepared and hence enabling the government to put in place effective mechanism to control and check inefficient budget utilization,” he said.
So far, Project Profiles of more than one thousand projects have been prepared.
Some 19 proclamations on effective utilization budget utilization have also been prepared to enable capital projects to be completed on time.
A new directorate has also been set up in them Ministry to evaluate and monitor the progress of projects and prepare physical and financial performance report.
The launching of an urgent auditing system based on tip-offs is also supporting the effort to control overspending, he pointed out.
The Ethiopian Herald March 7, 2019
BY TSEGAYE TILAHUN
