PHILLIMON MHLANGA
Several government ministries have failed to deliver more than half of the projects of strategic importance to the country, under the Presidential office oversight, signalling lukewarm pace at which development works are moving ahead, it has been established.
The implementation of projects is monitored by the Minister of State for Presidential Affairs and Implementation of Government Programmes, Jorum Gumbo.
The government placed development projects, mostly infrastructure, as national projects, meaning these are vital for the country’s overall development. But the projects faced funding problems during the implementation stages, despite the government claiming it had been recording surpluses.
This, however, is not the first time the government has failed to meet its targets as it has a long history of failures in past years.
Acknowledging the importance of the projects and the failure to meet the targets, Information and Broadcasting Services Minister, Monica Mutsvangwa, on Tuesday disclosed that government ministries hd failed to complete 52 projects out of 98 targeted. She said the performance level was unsatisfactory.
She, however, indicated that despite this grim scenario, 46 projects were completed. These included infrastructure and utility projects, e-recruitment system, electricity pre-paid meters, base stations installed, and a bridge in Mvurwi.
“A total of 98 projects were targeted by 19 ministries. Forty six out of the 98 projects were on target, 35 were below target with an acceptable range of deviation, while 17 were below target and outside the range of deviation. Projects that were not completed will be rolled over to the next cycle,” Mutsvangwa said.
She, however, did not reveal the identity of the failed projects and why they failed.
