Iraq has started enforcing black and white lists for contractors within a drive to upgrade their performance and prevent project delays.

Government officials staged a seminar at the Planning Ministry on Thursday to explain the procedures to contractors amidst an upturn in post-war infrastructure projects.

“The seminar highlighted methods of blacklisting and whitelisting construction companies and steps to remove them from both lists,” the Iraqi News Agency said on Friday.

Iraqi officials have mostly blamed contractors for long delays in projects and estimated the value of stalled or suspended projects at more than $18 billion.