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       ‘Probe accuracy of methods used to study required budget’

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       KUWAIT CITY, Oct 13: The State Audit Bureau criticized the Ministry of Public Works for not benefiting from the budget allocated for 34 projects in the budget of 2020/2021 fiscal year, totaling about KD 22 million, reports Al-Qabas daily. The bureau revealed that the ministry did not spend a penny on those projects during the aforementioned year. It asked the ministry to investigate the accuracy of the methods used to study the required budget and the actual need to implement its programs and plans in light of its capacity and in order to benefit from the available financial resources.

       The bureau stressed the need for the ministry to develop its capabilities to suit the needs of implementing budget programs, and to achieve good use of budget appropriations for the purposes allocated to them. In its response, the Ministry of Public Works attributed the matter to the exceptional circumstances and health precautionary measures in Kuwait and various countries of the world.

       Affected

       It explained that this affected the possibility of providing the necessary labor as a result of the partial and total lockdowns, as well as resulted in the inability to obtain materials either from local sources or the global market due to the closure. Many of the contractors and consulting offices were not able to implement their obligations to complete the expected work percentages on which the financial appropriations were estimated. However, the State Audit Bureau rejected these justifications, referring to these observations in its report for the previous fiscal year, which witnessed the non-disbursement of 24 projects.

       It stressed that the repetition of the observation indicates that the ministry did not take serious measures to avoid it. In this context, the bureau affirmed that the lack of preparation and coordination with the relevant authorities caused the failure in putting forward five contracts to complete construction projects, despite the completion of the design work for some of them more than five years ago, and the delay in the completion of others from the consultancy agreements affiliated with those contracts, amounting to a total disbursed amount of KD 5.5 million. It stated that the delay exposes these contracts to modification due to the passage of time periods between the design and implementation works, which leads to an increase in the total cost of the contract and the failure to benefit from those projects in the time specified for them.

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