The government says the decrease is due primarily to re-profiling of school, health facility, continuing care, housing and other projects into future years, as well as savings on projects.

Finance Minister Joe Ceci said the government was not intentionally trying to cut capital spending but that certain projects simply faced delays.

“They’re not cancelled,” he told reporters at a legislature news conference.

“Because of those unforeseen circumstances, delays, there is less capital happening, but all of it will happen.”

The list of delayed projects was not made immediately available by the province. But the majority of the deferred spending includes $260 million from schools facing ongoing siting issues, $60 million from health and government facilities projects, and $40 million from health’s clinical information system.

The NDP has made infrastructure spending a key part of its plan to stimulate a provincial economy that has been hammered by low oil prices since 2014.

But the government has faced issues in the past in getting money out the door for infrastructure. In the 2016-17 fiscal year, capital expenditures were $6.6 billion — $1.9 billion less than what the government budgeted.

Alberta Party Leader Greg Clark said it’s uncertain whether the NDP has inflated expectations or simply mishandled its plans.

“I’ve got some questions about the fundamental ability of them to actually manage the projects. I wonder if this whole capital plan is a lot of wishful thinking, frankly,” said Clark.

United Conservative Party finance critic Ric McIver said the ongoing issues around capital projects bring into question the NDP’s claims that its additional infrastructure spending would “add and sustain” 10,000 jobs in 2016 and the next two years.

“Minister Ceci, I’m sure he’s trying hard, but he has been completely unreliable in every projection he’s made,” said McIver.

But Ceci said the job projections are unchanged and the infrastructure plan is working.

“It helped us through the downturn. It kept people working and it is getting us set up for the recovery that’s taking place now,” he said.

Despite an ongoing slump in oil prices, the government is forecasting an improving economic outlook overall after two years of recession in 2015 and 2016. The province is upgrading its projected economic growth from 2.6 per cent to 3.1 per cent in 2017.

Yet while public infrastructure spending is lower than intended, the province is also warning in the fiscal update about decreasing commercial capital spending.

“Many construction projects underway prior to the oil price drop continue to wind down, pushing commercial investment to the lowest level in over six years,” says the fiscal update.

The NDP has also faced heavy criticism for its skyrocketing debt load, a factor in a series of credit downgrades by rating agencies.

The government is reducing its borrowing for capital by $916 million, to $5 billion, due to both decreased capital spending and higher borrowing last year. Direct borrowing for operations is down from a planned $6.5 billion to $4.9 billion.

The provincial debt by the end of the year is now projected to be $43.3 billion, compared to the budget’s forecast $45.1 billion.

Debt servicing costs sit at $1.4 billion.