The number of blocked projects was not provided instead a number of reasons that contributed to projects being blocked were cited. The province reported that tranche payments were made to various municipalities for the building of houses, however, municipalities also made tranche payments to contractors who served as implementing agents. Many of the contractors disappeared subsequent upon receiving the tranche payments, which gave rise to blocked projects, irregular and unauthorized payments. The province however confirmed that the tranche payments practise has been stopped by the current MEC. In Kothlong municipality tranche payment was made to a contractor and a project was approved and later discovered that the land was not owned by the municipality and the project became blocked. The provincial department undertook to investigate extensively all the municipalities that failed to account for the money that was transferred to them. It also acknowledged that the process would be costly; nevertheless, it was hoping to get good results.