Dozens of municipal projects are currently stalled as a result of delays in approving Bahrain's national budget, a report said.

The Municipalities and Urban Planning Affairs Ministry has around 40 projects in the pipeline for this year, but Assistant Under-Secretary for Joint Municipal Services Mohammed Noor Al Shaikh revealed they could not go ahead without a budget being agreed, according to the report in the Gulf Daily News, our sister publication.

"We have around 40 projects in the pipeline for this year," he said. "These projects were proposed by the five municipal councils and were approved to be implemented.

"However, they are still awaiting the approval of the country's national budget to start for the year 2013-2014."

The budget should have started being implemented at the start of the year, but discussions have dragged on since last October amid a dispute between the government and parliament. – TradeArabia News Service