As many as 242 infrastructure projects in the country are running behind schedule, Parliament was informed today.
"Out of the 561 projects (costing Rs 150 crore and above) which are on the monitor of this ministry, 242 projects are delayed as on January 1, 2012," the Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Statistics and Programme Implementation Srikant Kumar Jena said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha.
The delay is due to time taken in land acquisition, procurement, law and order problems, inadequate infrastructure, delay in mobilisation by contractors, general cost escalation due to delay, increase in prices of cement and steel and exchange rate variations, Jena said.
A monitoring system is in place for central sector projects costing Rs 150 crore or more in 16 infrastructure sectors, he added.
Assam, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh have maximum number of delayed projects at 31, 20, 15 and 16 respectively, the minister added.
