348 infra projects show cost overrun of ` 3L- cr

New Delhi, Oct. 7: As many as 348 infrastructure projects, each worth ` 150 crore or above, have shown cost overruns to the rune of over ` 3 lakh crore owing to delays and other reasons, a report said.

The ministry of statistics and programme implementation monitors infrastructure projects worth ` 150 crore and above.

“Total original cost of implementation of 1,351 projects was ` 15,72,066.02 crore and their anticipated completion cost is likely to be ` 18,72,201.51 crore, which reflects overall cost overruns of ` 3,00,135.49 crore,” the ministry’s latest report for May said.

Of these 1,351 projects, 348 reported cost overruns and 263 time escalation. According to the report, the expenditure incurred on these projects till May 2018 is ` 7,47,302.42 crore, which is 39.92 per cent of the anticipated cost of the projects.

However, it said the number of delayed projects decreases to 191 if delay is calculated on the basis of latest schedule of completion.

For 650 projects, neither the year of commissioning nor the tentative gestation period has been reported. Out of 263 delayed projects, 66 projects have overall delay in the range of 1 to 12 months, 50 projects ( 13- 24 months), 71 projects ( 25- 60 months) and 76 projects ( 61 months and above), it added.

The report attributes the time overrun to a host of issues, including delay in land acquisition, forest clearance, supply of equipment, fund constraint, Maoist incursion, legal cases and law and order situation.