Cost over-run of 1.07 lakh crore in railway projects: CAG

Says ministry showed 82 projects as 'completed' even as they required Rs 10,832 crore for completion

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The Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) has pointed out cost over-run of more than Rs 1.07 lakh crore in 442 ongoing projects of Indian Railways. This includes projects for construction of new lines, doubling of existing lines and gauge conversion audited for the period between 2009 and 2014.

"Audit observed overall cost overrun of Rs 1.07 lakh crore and throw-forward of Rs 1.86 lakh crore in 442 ongoing projects. Seventy-five projects were ongoing for more than 15 years and of them, three were 30 years old. Apart from fund constraint, deficient planning and delay in acquisition of required land contributed to the delay in implementation of projects," the auditor has said in a report tabled in Parliament today.

The auditor also pointed out the rail ministry showed 82 projects as "completed" even as they required Rs 10,832 crore for completion of balance works. "Despite limited resources, 236 projects were taken up with rate of return less than 14 per cent (prescribed benchmark) and 126 projects were taken up with rate of return eve below zero per cent," the report said.

The CAG has pulled up the rail ministry for taking eight years to draw the project getting the approval of its Concession Agreement and an additional six years to finalize the detailed project cost in spite of availability of basic data. "There was delay of more than three years in deciding the Board of Directors. The share of the rail ministry had gone up to Rs 27,153 crore from initial estimate of Rs 9,393 crore," it said.

The CAG also reviewed the tenders and contracts covering the period 2011-12 to 2013-14 across all the Zonal Railways to assess efficiency in management of contracts and execution of works. It observed despite Railway Board's instructions issued in 2003, e-tendering process was not followed in all cases. It noticed average delay of 359 days in finalization of 46 per cent of the tenders checked.