NITI wants infra projects lagging for decades completed by FY23-end

Shortlists 494 projects, including 279 roads and highways worth Rs 1.92 trillion, petroleum projects worth Rs 1.11 trillion, almost a trillion rupees worth of railway projects

Even as new infrastructure projects keep getting announced, the Centre has turned the spotlight on projects falling behind for decades and ensure their completion by the end of this financial year (2022-23, or FY23).

The Centre’s think tank NITI Aayog — mandated with the task to monitor energy and infrastructure —has shortlisted 494 projects worth Rs 5.66 trillion for completion by March 2023, Business Standard has learnt. These include 279 road and highway projects worth Rs 1.92 trillion, petroleum projects worth Rs 1.11 trillion, almost Rs 1 trillion worth of railway projects, according to an internal report by the central think tank.

The projects have already incurred expenditure of Rs 3.8 trillion. The expenditure anticipated for completion this fiscal year has been pegged at Rs 1.8 trillion.

Some of the big-ticket projects targeted for completion are the Rs 28,181-crore Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor by the Railways, scheduled for completion in March 2023, Rs 14,719-crore North-East North Western Interconnector project by the Power Grid Corporation of India, and the Rs 26,264-crore Visakh Refinery modernisation project by Hindustan Petroleum Corporation. These were committed for completion by their respective ministries at the start of FY23.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be laying the foundation stone of the Visakh Refinery modernisation project during his visit to Visakhapatnam on November 11.

Earlier this year, the Centre had tasked the Aayog to ensure the completion of laggard projects in mission mode. “To expedite the development of critical infrastructure in the country, the Centre resolved that all significant infrastructure projects worth over Rs 150 crore, which were initiated before January 2020 and are pending completion, must be completed in FY23,” the Aayog said. After consultations with ministries, 494 projects of the nearly 1,500 were shortlisted for completion this fiscal year in April.

“These projects have been closely monitored in this fiscal year, and the progress is being constantly monitored by the highest levels of the government,” a senior government official told Business Standard.

Meanwhile, many of these multi-state projects were delayed on account of cooperation gaps between departments and state and central ministries. 

In July, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had asked the Aayog to map all infrastructure projects lying loose and explore the possibility of bringing them under the PM GatiShakti National Master Plan, so that coordination can be expedited.

Moreover, the assessment of projects found that sectors such as the Railways and coal had the slowest pace of execution in projects that had been earmarked for completion this fiscal year.

“Major efforts will be required to improve project implementation to achieve the committed milestones,” the report said.

The 50 rail projects designated for this fiscal year have cumulatively seen a cost escalation to Rs 1 trillion, from the originally approved costs of Rs 55,000 crore, while telecommunications projects saw costs almost doubling to Rs 24,912 crore.

Meanwhile, 279 highway projects for this fiscal year have so far seen a cost escalation of Rs 8,000 crore in the past years.

Under the PM GatiShakti NMP, all infrastructure projects that will boost intermodal logistics and decongestion of energy, transport, and communications networks are being clubbed under a single platform for faster execution.