327 central projects costs exceed targets by 9%

A 9 per cent cost over-run has been reported in the 327 central sector projects, according to the "exception report" for February-March, 2005 of the ministry of statistics and programme implementation.

About 125 projects accounting for 38 per cent of the total projects examined by the ministry were running behind schedule. In addition, 58 projects "� 36 in road transport, seven each in power and railways, five in petroleum and one each in steel, fertilisers and coal"� reported additional delays ranging up to 36 months.

The cost of 137 projects is expected to increase to Rs 2,45,976.81 crore against the original cost of Rs 2,25,741.32 crore. The expenditure incurred so far on these projects is Rs 96,032.91 crore or 39 per cent of the total anticipated cost.

The report also said 15 projects were running ahead of schedule and 64 were meeting the deadline.

The exception report of the ministry provides current status on 327 central sector projects, including 44 mega projects, each costing about Rs 1000 crore and above.

The remaining 283 projects belong to the major projects category costing Rs 100 crore to Rs 1000 crore.