245 infra projects delayed, 345 report cost overrun, says govt

As many as 245 projects have shown time overrun, while cost escalation has been found in 345 cases -- out of 1,315 infrastructure projects monitored by the government, Parliament was informed today.

The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation monitors on-going Central Sector Infrastructure Projects (CSIPs) costing Rs 150 crore and above on time and cost overruns.

The information is provided by the project implementing agencies on the On-line Computerized Monitoring System (OCMS) of the ministry.

"As on April 1, 2018, a total of 1,315 projects were on the monitor of this Ministry," Minister of State for Statistics and Programme Implementation Vijay Goel said in a written reply to Lok Sabha.

"Of these, 254 are showing time overruns, 345 are showing cost overruns and 98 are showing both time and cost overruns," he added.

From 2013-14 to 2017-18, the number of ongoing CSIPs has increased from 710 to 1,315 and the time overrun has come down from 29.44 per cent to 19.32 per cent.

Major steps are being taken to ensure completion of CSIPs without time and cost overruns, Goel said.

These include rigorous project appraisal; OCMS; setting up of Revised Cost Committees in the Ministries for fixation of responsibility for time and cost overruns; regular review of infrastructure projects by the concerned administrative Ministries; and setting up of Central Sector Projects Coordination Committees (CSPCCs) in the States under the concerned Chief Secretaries for speedy implementation of major projects, he added.

In a separate reply to the House, the minister said that the percentage utilisation of funds over release during last four year (till 2017-18) was about 103 per cent under Member of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme (MPLADS)