The Cabinet Office has confirmed that work on Hazmod, a computer network designed by the UK government to deal with potential terror attacks has been stalled indefinitely, according to media reports which cite e-mail newsletter E-Government Bulletin.

The Hazmod extranet was set up by the Cabinet Office's Civil Contingency Secretariat and was scheduled to go live in 2002. It was originally designed to help government departments and emergency services to co-ordinate their efforts when dealing with major disasters or other civil emergencies, such as terrorist attacks.

The service, however, has still not been launched and the Cabinet Office reportedly admitted that work on the project has been stalled due to "internal management changes."

According to reports, however, local government planners involved in the Hazmod project characterised it as a "disaster " from the start, and claimed that a lack of funds together with major technical problems were the real reasons behind the delays in its development.

According to BBC News Online, the Cabinet Office claimed that the project will be replaced by "faster and better" systems available from government departments.

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