New Delhi: As many as 349 infrastructure projects, each worth Rs 150 crore and
above, have shown cost overruns to the tune of Rs 2 lakh crore owing to
delays and other reasons, a government report has said.
The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation monitors infrastructure projects worth Rs 150 crore and above.
"Total
original cost of implementation of the 1,283 projects was Rs
15,58,352.33 crore and their anticipated completion cost is likely to be
Rs 17,59,443.87 crore, which reflects overall cost overruns of Rs
2,01,091.54 crore (12.90% of original cost)," the ministry's latest
flash report for October 2017 has revealed.
Of these 1,283 projects in question, 349 reported cost overruns and 302 time escalation.
According
to the report, the expenditure incurred on these projects till October
2017 was Rs 6,59,009.46 crore, which is 37.46 per cent of the
anticipated cost.
"Out of total 1,283 projects, 12 projects have
reported completion and 34 new projects have been initiated on the
monitor of this ministry during the current month. Of these, 13 projects
are ahead of schedule, 317 are on schedule, 302 are delayed, 349
projects are showing cost overruns and 105 projects are showing both
time and cost overruns with respect to original implementation
schedules," the report said.
However, it stated that the number
of delayed projects decreases to 258 if the delay is calculated with
reference to latest revised schedules of completion.
For 651
projects, where original/anticipated commissioning date has not been
reported, all concerned have been requested to provide the
original/anticipated commissioning date so that these projects can be
monitored for completion vis-a-vis targeted dates, it said.
It
noted that out of 302 delayed projects, 49 projects have overall delay
in the range of 1 to 12 months, 66 projects (13 to 24 months), 108
projects (25 to 60 months) and 79 projects (61 months and above).
The
report attributes the time overrun to a host of issues, including delay
in land acquisition, forest clearance, supply of equipment, funds
constraints, Maoist incursion, legal cases and law and order situation.
PTI
