The ministry of statistics & programme implementation (MOSPI) in its latest report has indicated that as many as 343 infrastructure projects, worth Rs 150 crore or above, have reported a cost overrun to the tune of Rs 2.23 lakh crore due to delays and other reasons. It monitors infrastructure projects worth Rs 150 crore and above. Further, it indicated that total original cost of implementation of the 1,332 projects was Rs 16,26,675.52 crore and their anticipated completion cost is likely to be Rs 18,49,766.91 crore, which reflects overall cost overruns of Rs 2,23,091.39 crore (13.71% of original cost).
According to the MOSPI’s latest report, of these 1,332 projects, 343 reported cost overrun and 253 time escalation. It also noted that the expenditure incurred on these projects till April 2018 is Rs 6,63,109.75 crore, which is 35.85% of the anticipated cost of the projects. However, it said that the number of delayed projects decreases to 187 if delay is calculated with reference to latest revised schedules of completion. It stated that for 634 projects neither the year of commissioning nor the tentative gestation period has been reported. It added that out of 253 delayed projects, 59 projects have overall delay in the range of 1 to 12 months, 48 (13-24 months), 76 projects (25-60 months) and 70 projects (61months 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. It also pointed out that the brief reasons for time overruns as reported by various project implementing agencies are delay in land acquisition, delay in forest clearance, delay in supply of equipment, fund constraints and geological surprises, among others. It 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.
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