Some SR18.7 billion allocated for new projects remain unused by some government agencies, a General Auditing Bureau (GAB) report has revealed. The report, a copy of which was obtained by Okaz/SG, said some government agencies lack the professional expertise required for technical and engineering planning for their projects which resulted in a delay in inviting tenders. Some government agencies delayed the signing of contracts for the execution of their projects until the last months of the fiscal year, and also failed to update technical specifications, plans and engineering drawings of the projects before inviting tenders, the report said. In some cases, contractors could not take possession of the project site in time to start work as scheduled, and some contractors delayed the handover of completed projects. The report blamed the project supervision sections of these government agencies for their failure to benefit from the allocated money.
