356 infra projects show cost overrun of Rs 2.19 lakh crore

New Delhi: As many as 356 infrastructure projects, each worth Rs 150 crore or above, have shown cost overrun of Rs 2.19 lakh crore owing to delays and other reasons, a report said.

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

"Total original cost of implementation of 1,304 projects was Rs 16.21 lakh crore and their anticipated completion cost is Rs 18.41 lakh crore, which reflects overall cost overrun of Rs 2.19 lakh crore (13.56 per cent of original cost)," the ministry's latest report for January 2018 said.

Of these 1,304 projects, 356 reported cost overrun and 258 times escalation.

According to the report, the expenditure incurred on these projects till January 2018 is Rs 6.61 lakh crore, which is 35.92 per cent of the anticipated cost of the projects.

Of the 1,304 projects, 6 have reported completion and 9 new projects have been initiated during January. While 15 projects are ahead of schedule, 305 are on schedule, 258 are delayed, 356 projects are showing cost overrun and 94 projects are showing both time and cost overrun with respect to original implementation schedules, the report said.

However, it said the number of delayed projects decreases to 223 if delay is calculated with reference to latest revised schedules of completion.

"For 726 projects, where original/anticipated commissioning date has not been reported, all concerned have been requested to provide the original/anticipated commissioning date so that these projects can be monitored for completion vis-a-vis the targeted dates," it said.

Of the 258 delayed projects, 51 have overall delay in the range of 1-12 months, 56 projects (13-24 months), 83 projects (25-60 months) and 68 projects (61 months and above).

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.