Ministry stops listing failed ODA projects in report

Japan Policy & Politics, July 26, 1999

TOKYO, July 23 Kyodo

The Foreign Ministry discontinued listing failed projects in its annual report released Friday on the fiscal 1997 assessment of Japan's official development assistance (ODA). Instead, the latest 492-page report focuses on providing a technical assessment of problems and benefits regarding ODA projects. The past 16 reports highlighted successful, problematic and unsuccessful projects, and last year's version mentioned only one failed project out of 108 projects surveyed. The ministry stopped reporting failed projects despite increasing public pressure to more effectively implement ODA amid tight budget conditions. Pressed by reporters for a reason why failed projects had been dropped from the report, a ministry official said the latest report included assessments for the first time from the Japan International Cooperation Agency and other government affiliates, which do not list the results of individual projects. The official mentioned only one failed project and 42 others with some problems in the report's assessment of 154 projects. The results came in contrast to a report for fiscal 1997 issued last December by the Board of Audit, which identified five ODA projects in Bangladesh, Papua New Guinea and Sri Lanka as failing to produce the desired results. The ministry report noted the board assessment and explained measures being taken to improve the five projects.