KABUL - Presiding over a meeting of the National Procurement Commission, President Ashraf Ghani has said contractors will be fined if they illogically delayed completion of projects.
A statement from the Presidential Palace said on Saturday that the NPC met under chairmanship of the president at the palace before noon.
After a debate on 10 projects and related issues, the meeting confirmed oversight and designing of the building for easy service centre, extension in timescale for the Education Ministry’s research centre’s building and extension in the duration of the Imam Sahib canal’s embankment project and Gadaniwal-Chachcharan road construction project.
According to the Ministry of Finance, the easy service project is aimed at intensifying and making easy services delivery to people at public sector departments. The project will be introduced in Kabul before being extended to provinces.  The NPC approved 66 million afghanis for the project design structure.
The NPC also returned proposals to the Ministry of Public Works regarding budget approval for Ministry of Rural Development-related water supply project in Zaranj, the capital of Nimroz province, the installation of a national construction laboratory and a Kabul municipality-related project for further assessment and addressing technical shortcomings.
During the debate about extension of projects’ duration, the president made it clear that contractors would be fined if they failed to complete projects in the stipulated time without offering a strong reason. He stressed timely completion of projects and proper planning.
About designing big development projects, the president said the private sector should investment in the area according to their capacity and the government was ready to cooperate with it.
Ghani once again asked ministries and government departments to spend their development funds in a timely manner.(Pajhwok)