347 infra projects worth Rs 150 cr each show cost overruns of Rs 3.2 trn

As many as 347 infrastructure projects, each worth Rs 150 crore or more, have shown cost overruns to the tune of over Rs 3.2 lakh crore owing to delays and other reasons, a Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation report said.

The ministry monitors infrastructure projects worth Rs 150 crore and above.

"Total original cost of implementation of the 1,443 projects was Rs 18,30,362.48 crore and their anticipated completion cost is likely to be Rs 21,51,136.69 crore, which reflects overall cost overruns of Rs 3,20,774.21 crore (17.53 per cent of original cost)," the ministry's latest report for November 2018 said.

Of these 1,443 projects, 347 reported cost overruns and 360-time escalation.

According to the report, the expenditure incurred on these projects till November 2018 is Rs 7,97,496.44 crore, which is 37.07 per cent of the anticipated cost of the projects.

However, it said the number of delayed projects decreases to 302, if delay is calculated on the basis of latest schedule of completion.

For 710 projects neither the year of commissioning nor the tentative gestation period has been reported. Out of 360 delayed projects, 106 have overall delay in the range of 1 to 12 months, 60 are delayed by 13 to 24 months, 93 reflect delay of 25 to 60 months and 101 projects show 61 months and above delay.

The average time overrun in these 360 delayed projects is 44.43 months.

The brief reasons for time overruns, as reported by various project implementing agencies, are delays in land acquisition, forest clearance and supply of equipment.

Besides, there are other reasons like fund constraints, geological surprises, geo-mining conditions, slow progress in civil works, shortage of labour, inadequate mobilisation by the contractor, Maoist problems, court cases, contractual issues, ROU/ROW (right of use/right of way) problems, law and order situation, among others.

It also observed that project agencies are not reporting revised cost estimates and commissioning schedules for many projects, which suggests that time/cost overrun figures are under-reported.