The Ministry of Economy (MoE) and the National Economic Committee of the Lower House on Tuesday expressed dissatisfaction about the way infrastructural projects were implemented around the country in 2013, while the Ministry of Finance (MoF) said it was more content.
MoF officials said 65 percent of the budget for infrastructure projects was spent in 2013. Nevertheless, the Economic Committee argued it was less than 50 percent.
The MoF expressed satisfaction with the progress made on big infrastructural projects like the Qaisar-Bala Murghab Road Project, railway project and the National Solidarity Progromme.
"We are happy and satisfied with the implementation of around 20 big infrastructural projects," Ministry of Finance Advisor Najibullah Manali said. "According to our survey on project implementation, the projects are 80 percent done."
Meanwhile, officials from the MoE said based reports of the last nine months of 2013, more than 200 projects out of 621 development projects were completed, which Ministry representative Sayed Aref Nazif said was unacceptable.
"The reports we received by the ministries after nine months of the 2013, and project implementation is not satisfying," Nazif said.
The Economic Committee of the Lower House also criticized the progress made on infrastructure in Afghanistan this year.
"We were always observing that the budget of development projects shifts from one year to the next year and it repeats every year; the implemented projects of 2013 were not significant," Committee member Mohammad Reza Khoshak Watandost said.
The MoF reported that less money has allocated for new projects in 2014 because most of the government budget will be focused on security, as the NATO combat mission draws to an end and foreign troops depart Afghanistan.