Cost of 268 projects overshoots Rs 50,000 cr due to delay: govt

The government today admitted to cost overruns to the tune of Rs 50,295 crore in 268 of 578 ongoing projects, but did not give details of the timeframe for implementation.

As of April this year, the cost overruns in these 268 projects touched Rs 50,295 crore, Minister of State for Statistics and Programme Implementation Sriprakash Jaiswal said in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha.

The projects in question were all worth above Rs 150 crore.

The main reason for cost and time overrun include delay in procurement of equipment, law and order problems, inadequate infrastructure and rise in input cost, Jaiswal said.

The cost overrun of these projects is 16.5 per cent cent of their original approved costs, the statement said.

Last Month, Jaiswal had said in a reply to the same house that  of 631 ongoing projects, costing Rs 100 crore and above being monitored by MOSPI, as many as 327 delayed projects reported a total cost overrun of Rs 52,213 crore till March end this year.

It was stated in the reply last month that the cost overrun of these projects was 15.8 per cent of their original approved costs.