Government committed to implementing its action programme

Manama, Nov 30 (BNA): Information and Parliament Affairs Minister Isa bin Abdulrahman Al Hammadi said that the implementation of the 655 projects included in the Government Action Plan (GAP) 2015-2018, is continuing. The implementation includes 325 prioritised projects and 299 projects that fall within the least important category, the minister said during the press conference following the weekly cabinet meeting. He identified the prioritised projects as the ones that implement the main tasks of the government, and the least important projects are the ongoing administrative initiatives that are implemented at the ministry level. The minister said that 92 projects have been fully implemented, 216 projects are still under implementation, 17 are delayed projects, and 19 new ones, noting that the completion of projects falls within the GAP's four years term. He pointed out HRH the Prime Minister's directives to the concerned authorities to continue the development of related infrastructure services, follow-up projects and developing plans aimed at improving the infrastructure through coordination among the competent government authorities. He said that the government authorities concerned with dealing with the rainy season highlighted developing plans and coordination efforts that include short-term and sustainable solutions that aim to address the rainwater puddles in a number of areas in the Kingdom. Ministry of Works, Municipalities and Urban Planning Undersecretary Ahmed Al-Khayyat and Housing Ministry Assistant Undersecretary Sami Bu-Hazza, during the press conference, gave detailed explanation of the coordination efforts between service ministries for the facilitation of rainwater drainage operations without causing disruption of traffic or disturbance to citizens and residents. The Works Ministry announced the launch of a project to drain rainwater that consists of three stages covering 55 locations in all governorates of the Kingdom at a total cost of BD 8.27 million, in addition to three stages which are under implementation and that include 55 new locations in the governorates. Al-Khayyat praised the pre-coordination efforts that contributed to the discharge in a short time of heavy rainwater that fell for four hours. He said the ministry's service teams began their work at the start of the rain in accordance with the list of priorities, which includes attending to the main streets and then to smaller roads in all governorates.