54 power projects delayed, 17 cost over-run: Parliament

As per records of the last 3 years no ongoing project costing Rs 150 cr and above in the power, railway and road sectors has been scrapped

The implementation of 54 projects in the power sector worth Rs 150 crore was delayed whereas 17 projects have reported cost over-run, Parliament was informed today.

"As on May 1, 2014, 100 ongoing projects costing Rs 150 crore and above in the power sector are on the monitor of this ministry. 54 of these projects have reported time over-run and 17 have reported cost over-run," Statistics Minister Rao Inderjit Singh said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha.

According to the reply, as on May 1, 2014, 107 ongoing mega projects costing Rs 1,000 crore and above in the Railways and road transport & highway sector are on the monitor of the Statistics Ministry.

Of 107 such projects in rail and road sectors, 34 have reported time over-run and 54 have reported cost over-run. There are eight projects, which have reported both time and cost over-run.

The minister said as per the records of the last three years in the Ministry of Statistics, no ongoing project costing Rs 150 crore and above in the power, railway and road sectors has been scrapped due to time or cost over-run.

Among power projects, Kameng Hydroelectric project would cost Rs 4,653.95 crore against original cost of Rs 2,496.90 crore with time over-run of 87 months.

Similarly, Kishanganga hydro power project would cost Rs 5,497.72 crore against original cost of Rs 3,642.04 crore with time over-run of 10 months. Subansiri lower hydro project would cost Rs 10,667 crore against the original cost of Rs 6,285.33 crore with time overrun of 96 months.

Koldam hydro power project would cost Rs 7,220 crore against the original cost of Rs 4,527.15 crore.

In railways, Udhampur-Srinagar-Barmulla rail project would cost Rs 20,000 crore against original cost of Rs 2,500 crore with time over-run of 181 months.

Similarly, Nagaldam-Talwara rail line project would cost 1,036.78 crore against the original cost of Rs 37.68 crore. The project was approved in 1981 and was to commissioned in July 2012.

In the road sector, the six laning of Panipat-Jalandhar highway project would cost 2,288 crore against the original cost of Rs 1,108 crore. The cumulative expenditure incurred on the project so far is Rs 3,466 crore.

The minister sadi the major steps undertaken to ensure timely completion of central sector infrastructure projects include rigorous project appraisal, online monitoring system, setting up of standing committees in ministries for fixation of responsibilities for time and cost overrun.

There is also a Central Sector Projects Coordination Committee (CSPCC) in the states under the Chief Secretaries for removal of bottlenecks and for facilitating the speedy implementation of major projects, the minister said.