Seventy per cent of the projects approved under the SAPARD programme so far will be completed by year's end, the Information Directorate of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry told BTA Thursday. Another 37 projects are expected to be paid up by the end of the year and 43 projects worth 16 million leva have been completed so far. This comes to show that the time necessary for the implementation of one project is less than a year and that the preliminary financing programmes are quite feasible, said Vladimir Karamishev, deputy director of the SAPARD payments agency as quoted by the press office of the Agriculture Ministry. Twenty-nine new projects worth a total of 18 million leva were approved on October 23. Two of the proposed projects were rejected due to omissions in their business plans, the press release says. The projects will be signed by the CEO of the Agency, Assen Droumev. This brings the total number of projects approved under SAPARD to 258 and the total investment to 176.5 million leva.