Saudi Arabia has launched an autonomous arbitration panel to follow up on stalled projects in Riyadh and prevent delays by contractors, a report said.

Several projects awarded by the Saudi government to contractors have been delayed because of dependence on sub-contractors, the Emirates 24/7 quoted the commission responsible for the development of the independent body Arriyadh.

The independent committee from outside the Commission will follow up all its projects sand report on each of them on them on a regular basis, the report quoted Muzahim Al Deeb, director of roads and services in the Commission, citing the Arabic language daily Al Watan.

According to Al Deeb, inefficient management, poor studies of the projects, low technical specifications and resources of some contractors, the absence of coordination among the concerned parties and "overlapping" of responsibilities among government departments linked to the projects were among the chief reasons for the stalling of the projects.

Fahd Al Hammadi, chairman of the National Contractors Committee, was quoted as saying that nearly 40 per cent of the government projects have faced delays and that most of them have been withdrawn from the contractors.

"The Saudi contractors aim to create an authority to look after this vital sector and increase its efficiency so it will be capable of shouldering its responsibilities in executing projects on time and with great efficiency," Al Hammadi added.

"We will soon sign an agreement among all contracting companies to create this autonomous authority before we have it presented to the Monarch."

The combined assets of Saudi Arabia’s contracting sector stand at around SR199 billion ($53 billion), controlled by nearly 115,000 registered contractors, according to Al Hammadi.