Centre admits to delays in infrastructure projects

Law and order problems, among others, caused delay

Law and order problems, land acquisition delay, fund constraints and environment clearances caused delay of over 30 per cent of the centrally monitored infrastructure projects as on December 1, 2013, Parliament was informed on Friday.

Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation monitors the on-going central sector infrastructure projects costing Rs 150 crore and above on time and cost overruns.

"As on December 1, 2013, 739 on-going central sector projects were on the monitor of this Ministry. Of these, 231 projects are delayed as against their original dates of commissioning," Minister of State (Independent) Srikant Kumar Jena said in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha.
 

As reported by the project implementing agencies, the main reasons for delay in implementation are law and order problems, delay in land acquisition, rehabilitation and resettlement problems, fund constraints, delay in forest and environmental clearances, delay in supply of material and contractual issues, among others, the Minister said.

He said government has taken various steps for timely completion of these projects, including rigorous project appraisal, on-line computerised monitoring system.

Besides Standing Committees have set up responsibility for time and cost overruns.

Jena said regular review by the concerned ministries is also undertaken, besides resolving problems of clearances and approvals of projects, removal of bottlenecks and speedy implementation by Central Sector Projects Coordination Committee.

About 368 rail projects delayed
Railway projects are getting delayed due to funds constraint, which is one of the major impediments for timely execution of ongoing projects, Rajya Sabha was told today. As on April 2013, there are 368 ongoing projects of new line, gauge conversion and doubling having a throw forward of Rs 1,78,216 crores with limited availability of resources as an outlay of only Rs 11,250 crores has been provided during 2013-14, Minister of State for Railways Kotla Jaya Surya Prakash Reddy said ian a written reply.

Therefore, projects are progressing as per availability of resources. Targets are fixed every year depending upon availability of resources and progress of individual projects, he said.

To expedite completion of projects, a number of initiatives have been taken to generate additional resources through non-budgetary measures like funding by state governments and other beneficiaries, execution of projects through Rail Vikas Nigam Limited on special purpose vehicle basis, raising of funds through market borrowing among others.

To reduce delays on account of land acquisition, security issues and forestry clearances, meetings with state officials at various levels are held from time to time.