359 infrastructure projects show cost overrun of Rs 2.05 trillion: Report

As many as 359 infrastructure projects, each worth Rs 1.5 billion and above, have shown cost overrun to the tune of Rs 2.05 trillion owing to delays and other reasons, a government report has said.

The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation monitors infrastructure projects worth Rs 1.5 billion and above.

"Total original cost of implementation of the 1,289 projects was Rs 16.05 trillion and their anticipated completion cost is likely to be Rs 18.10 billion, which reflects overall cost overruns of Rs 2.05 trillion (12.8 per cent of original cost)," the ministry's latest flash report for November 2017 has stated.

Of these 1,289 projects in question, 359 reported cost overruns and 297-time escalation.

According to the report, expenditure incurred on these projects till November 2017 is Rs 6.46 trillion, which is 35.67 per cent of the anticipated cost of the projects.

"Out of a total of 1,289 projects, 4 projects have reported completion and 10 new projects have been initiated on the monitor of this ministry during the current month. Of these, 15 projects are ahead of schedule, 312 are on schedule, 297 are delayed, 359 projects are showing cost overrun and 104 projects are showing both time and cost overrun with respect to original implementation schedules," the report said.

However, it said that the number of delayed projects has decreased to 258 if delay is calculated with reference to latest revised schedules of completion.
 

For 665 projects, where original/anticipated commissioning date has not been reported, all concerned have been requested by the ministry to provide the original /anticipated commissioning date so that these projects can be monitored for completion vis-avis the targeted dates.

It noted that out of 297 delayed projects, 51 projects have overall delay in the range of 1 to 12 months, 65 projects (13 to 24 months), 103 projects (25 to 60 months) and 78 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.