In an apparent effort to recapture political initiative, the Land, Infrastructure and Transport Ministry unveiled policies Thursday to review public works projects, including the suspension of any new feasibility studies for large-scale dams.
The ministry compiled the policy paper amid rising public criticism of huge public works projects, which have cornered the central and many local governments into financial difficulties throughout the 1990s.
The ministry had been rushing to hammer out its own review policies while a key advisory panel to the prime minister released the same day a set of economic reform proposals, including drastic cuts in public works.