Bureaucratic Red-tape Slows Cuba Projects

HAVANA TIMES, March 16 — Delays by the Cuban government in assessing international collaboration projects are leaving foreign aid workers in complete limbo, according to a report released this week by Havana correspondents of the IPS news agency.

Excessive time is being taken in slow and complicated government processes that involve the Office of Foreign Trade and the Ministry of the Economy and Planning, which are the agencies responsible for determining whether the aid proposals are consistent with the country’s economic plan, indicated the report.

“We have projects that have been on hold for as long as two years awaiting a determination as to whether they can be implemented or not,” said a representative with the Italian NGO “Desarrollo de los Pueblos.”

According to the information from IPS, there have been cases where such delays have forced the return of funds to donors due to deadlines having been missed.