Nearly 10% of behind schedule projects want environ clearances

Some projects were delayed by more than 12 months

Out of 217 projects that are running behind schedule, nearly 10% of them are delayed due to pending environmental clearances, Parliament was informed today.

The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation monitors on-going central sector infrastructure projects costing Rs 150 crore and above on basis of time and cost over-runs.

There are a total of 727 such projects that are being monitored by the Ministry.

"...217 (of these projects) were delayed by more than 12 months with respect to their original dates of commissioning. Project implementing agencies have reported that 21 of these 217 projects are delayed due to pending clearances from the Ministry of Environment and Forests," Minister of State (Independent) Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation Rao Inderjit Singh said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha.

He said out of these 21 projects wanting environmental clearances, 6 projects have reported cost over-runs also.

The projects are in the sectors of coal, power, petroleum and railways mainly in the states of Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Mizoram, Odisha, Sikkim, Telangana and Uttar Pradesh.

The minister said the Centre has taken major steps to ensure timely completion of these projects including on-line computerised monitoring system, setting up standing committees to fix responsibility of time and cost over-run as well as regular review of projects.

Besides, Central Sector Projects Coordination Committees have been set up in the states under the chief secretaries for removal of bottlenecks and facilitating speedy implementation of major projects.