Railways find difficult to complete projects: Bans

Railways find it "very difficult" to complete projects at the desired pace as new schemes are announced in response to demands of MPs, Railways Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal said on Friday.

New Delhi: Railways find it "very difficult" to complete projects at the desired pace as new schemes are announced in response to demands of MPs, Railways Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal said in the Rajya Sabha on Friday.

Railways is one of the departments where announcements are made for new projects on demands of MPs, he said during Question Hour. Railways find it "very difficult" to complete the projects at the desired pace, he said. The minister, however, said work on different projects are going on as per the allocated budget. He said a project is announced and an estimated cost is worked out. However, the actual cost is worked out after in-principle approval for the project. Cost of projects always gets increased due to prolonged period of execution. Referring to Rajasthan, he said funds have been provided yearly as per the availability of resources for completion of projects. "Steps have been taken to generate extra budgetary resources through state participation, public-private partnership, defence funding, declaring some projects as National Projects and implementation of bankable projects through Rail Vikas Nigam Limited (RVNL)," he added. PTI