357 infra projects show cost overruns of over Rs 3.39 lakh crore

Team Udayavani, Nov 11, 2018, 1:24 PM IST

New Delhi: As many as 357 infrastructure projects, each worth Rs 150 crore or above, have shown cost overruns to the tune of over Rs 3.39 lakh crore owing to delays and other reasons, a report said.

The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation monitors infrastructure projects worth Rs 150 crore and above.

“Total original cost of implementation of the 1,362 projects was Rs 17,03,840.01 crore and their anticipated completion cost is likely to be Rs 20,43,024.21 crore, which reflects overall cost overruns of 3,39,184.20 crore (19.91 per cent of original cost),” the ministry’s latest report for June 2018 said.

Of these 1,362 projects, 357 reported cost overruns and 272 time escalation.

According to the report, the expenditure incurred on these projects till June 2018 is 7,86,754.10 crore, which is 38.51 per cent of the anticipated cost.

However, it said the number of delayed projects decreases to 198, if delay is calculated on the basis of latest schedule of completion.

For 667 projects, neither the year of commissioning nor the tentative gestation period has been reported. Out of 272 delayed projects, 65 projects show delay in the range of 1 to 12 months, 53 projects have 13 to 24 months delay, 74 projects reflect delay of 25 to 60 months and 80 projects show 61 months and above delay.

The brief reasons for time overruns as reported by various project implementing agencies are delay in land acquisition, forest clearance, supply of equipment.

Besides, there are other reasons like fund constraints, geological surprises, problems in equipment erection, geo-mining conditions, slow progress in civil works, shortage of labour, inadequate mobilisation by the contractor, maoist problems, court cases, contractual issues, ROU/ROW (right of use/right of way) problems, law and order situation etc.

It also observed that project agencies are not reporting revised cost estimates and commissioning schedules for many projects, which suggests that time/cost overrun figures are under-reported.