Just 350 infra projects... ₹2.65 l cr excess costs

As many as 350 infrastructure projects, each worth Rs 150 crore or above, have shown cost overrun of Rs 2.65 lakh crore due to various reasons including delays, Parliament was informed on Wednesday. “As on October 1, 2017, a total of 1,263 projects were on the monitor of this Ministry,” Statistics and Programme Implementation Minister Vijay Goel said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha.

“Of these, 297 are showing time overruns, 350 are showing cost overruns and 103 are showing both time and cost overruns. These 350 projects are showing a total cost overrun of Rs 2.65 lakh crore,” Goel said added.

The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation monitors ongoing Central Sector Infrastructure Projects costing Rs 150 crore and above on time and cost overruns on the basis of information provided by the project implementation agencies.

The minister informed the House that causes for time overruns are project-specific and depend on a variety of technical, financial and administrative factors.

He added that as reported by the project implementing agencies, the main reasons for the delays pertain to land acquisition, environment and forest clearances, funding constraints, rehabilitation and resettlement issues, local body/ municipal permissions, utility shifting and contractual issues.

The minister also said that the range of delay in the 297 projects is from 1-261 months. Major steps have been undertaken to ensure completion of Central Sector Infrastructure Projects without time and cost overruns.

The steps include rigorous project appraisal, the Online Computerised Monitoring System (OCMS), setting up of Revised Cost Committees in the ministries for fixation of responsibility, regular review of infrastructure projects by the administrative ministries concerned, and the setting up of Central Sector Projects Coordination Committees (CSPCCS) in the states under the respective Chief Secretaries for removal of bottlenecks.