As many as 77 infrastructure projects across sectors such as power, petroleum and railways have reported a total cost overrun of Rs 1.29 lakh crore, government said today.
"As on January 1, 2016, a total of 1,058 projects were on the monitor of this Ministry. Of these, 77 projects were showing both time and cost overruns with respect to their original project implementation schedules," Statistics Minister V K Singh said in written reply to the Lok Sabha.
The original cost of these projects was Rs 1.52 lakh crore which escalated to 2.82 lakh crore due to delay in implementation.
The ministry monitors the implementation of on going Central Sector Infrastructure Projects costing Rs 150 crore and above for time and cost overruns on the basis of information provided by the project implementation agencies.
As per the reply, maximum cost overrun was seen in railway projects as the anticipated cost of 27 project rose to Rs 79,140.68 crore from the original cost of Rs 22,680.85 crore.
In power sector, the anticipated cost of 17 projects escalated to Rs 89,064.99 crore from original cost of Rs 54,199.44 crore.
In petroleum and petrochemical sector, the anticipated cost of nine projects has increased to 58,804.73 crore from original cost of Rs 45,855.54 crore.
In case of roads and highways projects, the anticipated cost of eight such projects rose to Rs 4,438.02 crore from original cost of Rs 2,586.46 crore.
The anticipated cost of one urban development project, Bangalore Metro Rail, was now estimated to be Rs 13,845.01 crore as against Rs 6,395 crore earlier.
The two projects of atomic energy has also reported a cost overrun to Rs 28,139 crore from Rs 16,663 crore.
The minister said that major steps taken to ensure the completion of Central Sector Infrastructure Projects without time and cost overruns include rigorous project appraisal; Online Computerised Monitoring System; setting up of Standing Committees in various ministries for fixing responsibility and setting up of Central Sector Projects Coordination Committees in states under Chief Secretaries for removal of bottlenecks and for facilitating the speedy implementation of major projects.
