New Delhi: The delivery of the first Scorpene submarine under Project-75 to the Indian Navy has been put off till second half of 2015, Parliament was informed on Monday.
In a written reply to the Lok Sabha, Defence Minister
AK Antony said, "The first submarine is now scheduled to be
delivered in the second half of 2015. There has been delay due
to initial teething problems, absorption of complex
technology, augmentation of MDL Infrastructure and procurement
of purchased material."
A programme for construction of six submarine is
currently underway at Mazagaon Dock Limited (MDL), Mumbai
under Project-75.
"As per the contract, first submarine was scheduled to
be delived in December 2012 and thereafter, one each every
year till December 2017," Antony said.
Informing the House on increase in the project cost,
he said, "Government has accorded approval for revision in the
cost of Project-75 on account of increase in cost of items
purchased by the MDL, related subheads and additional
infrastructure."
He said that the Defence Procurement Procedure 2011
has envisaged monitoring of all acquisitions to rule out
slippages.
"To ensure that no such slippages occur in future,
DPP-2011 envisages close monitoring of acquisitions cases at
appropriate level," Antoy said.
PTI
