SANA'A, April 25 (Saba) - Yemen and Saudi Arabia reviewed here on Sunday the implementation level of 18 vocational institutes funded by the Saudi Fund for Development (SFD) at a cost of $ 50 million.

Deputy Minister of Technical Education and Vocational Training Alawi Ba-Faqih and SFD Senior Economist Mohammed al-Ghefili discussed decisions and procedures taken over the stalled projects.

They also talked about the financial situation and the proposed solutions for some of the difficulties facing the implementation of those projects, reviewing a report of the director of the Saudi project in Sana'a Khaled al-Kumaim on the work progress of the project of technical institutes during the first quarter of 2010.

The report showed that the work at 11 institutes has been completed, while the proportion of implementation in the industrial vocational institute in Hajjah province amounted to 95 percent and the trade technical institute reached 61 percent.

Five projects are stalled because of raising some problems with a number of citizens and the security situations as the case in Saada institute in addition to the claim of contractors to be compensated due to the building materials' prices soar.

The two officials affirmed the importance of persuading contractors to accelerate the implementation of the stalled work.

Regarding the equipment grant, Ba-Faqih made clear that 23 international companies submitted their bids to outfit the institutes. Eight companies of them have been entered the competition, one would be chosen in two weeks.

He also noted that the Ministry along with the Ministry of Planning and International Cooperation in coordination with the GTZ Office signed a memorandum of understanding for benefiting from the German experience in quality performance management and improvement as well as developing curriculum for the institutes.

FJ/AF