1,174 infra projects report cost overrun of Rs 1.7 lakh cr

The total cost of 1,174 infrastructure projects worth Rs 150 crore and above monitored by the Statistics Ministry has overrun by Rs 1.7 lakh crore to Rs 16.16 lakh crore due to delays on acount of a host of reasons like land acquisition and green clearances.
The anticipated completion cost of 1,174 infrastructure projects worth Rs 150 crore and above was Rs 16.16 lakh crore compared in September to original cost of Rs 14.46 lakh crore, Parliament was informed today.
"As on September 30, 2016, 1,174 on-going projects were on the monitor of this Ministry with the total original cost of Rs 14,46,253.04 crore and their anticipated completion cost of Rs 16,16,457.43 crore," Statistics Minister D V Sadananda Gowda said in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha today.

Of these, 431 projects of roads sector, 355 of railway sector, 125 of power sector and 87 of coal sector were monitored by the ministry.
Also, 111 projects in roads sector, 41 in railway sector, 61 in power sector and 38 in coal sector are delayed with respect to their original schedules, the minister said.
The main reasons, as reported by the project implementing agencies, for delay in timely completion of the projects are law and order problems, delay in land acquisition, delay in environment and forest clearances, fund constraints, rehabilitation and resettlement issues, local body / municipal permissions, utility shifting, contractual issues, etc.

The minister stated that Statistics Ministry monitors on-going central sector infrastructure projects costing Rs 150 crore and above on time and cost overruns through its online computerization monitoring system (OCMS) on the basis of information provided by the project implementation agencies.

The minister further said that Project Monitoring Group
(PMG) on its own does not sanction any Projects or grant any approval for setting up any project or scheme but facilitates resolution of issues.
As on December 9, 2016, PMG has accepted 837 projects with anticipated investment of Rs 35.06 lakh crore for resolution of various issues likely to delay the execution of the project with a view to fast tracking the approvals for setting up and expeditious commissioning of large Public Private and Public-Private Partnership (PPP) projects.

Of these, 209 projects [78 Road Transport and Highways projects of Rs 1.44 lakh crore, 54 Power projects of Rs 3.28 lakh crore, 51 Railway projects of Rs 2.06 lakh crore and 26 Coal projects of Rs 0.77 lakh crore] of Rs 7.56 lakh crore are under consideration of PMG, the minister stated.
Once an Investor/Project Proponent including a Central Ministry/State Government agency uploads the issues requiring facilitation and support from PMG, those issues are discussed in PMG meeting with the concerned Central and State Government authorities, he added.
The minister further stated that the decisions taken in the meeting of PMG are followed up in subsequent meetings until a final decision is conveyed to the Project proponent.

State PMG meetings are convened at the level of Chief Secretary of a State in which the Project proponent can also participate.
Union Ministries and State Governments that sponsor the projects also monitor the pace of execution of these projects.
As on Dcember 9, 2016, the projects of Road Transport and Highways, Power, Railways and Coal sectors are located in the all States except Goa, Haryana, Nagaland, Punjab and Tripura, it added.