647 Central Projects Delayed, Some Up To 23 Years: Report

The Road Transport and Highways sector has the maximum number of delayed projects at 248, followed by railways at 116 and petroleum sector at 88, as per the latest flash report on infrastructure projects for August 2022.

The other sectors where projects are delayed with respect to their original schedule include 37 in coal, 53 in power, 22 in civil aviation, 13 in urban development, 6 in mines and 4 each in steel and atomic energy.

Flash Report

The Infrastructure and Project Monitoring Division (IPMD) under the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) is mandated to monitor central sector infrastructure projects costing Rs 150 crore and above.

The status is based on the information provided on the Online Computerised Monitoring System (OCMS) by the project implementing agencies.

The Flash Report for August 2022 contains information on the status of 1,526 central sector infrastructure projects costing Rs 150 crore and above.  

Out of the 1,526 projects, seven projects are ahead of schedule, 265 are on schedule, 647 are delayed, 393 projects reported cost overrun and 219 projects reported both time and cost overrun with respect to their original project implementation schedules.

Out of 647 delayed projects, 132 have delay in the range of 1-12 months, 118 projects have delay in the range of 13-24 months, 273 (42.19 per cent) projects have delay in the range of 25-60 months and 124 projects have delay of 61 months and above.

Road Sector

In the Road Transport and Highways sector, 248 out of 831 monitored projects are delayed.

The six-laning of Krishnagiri-Walajahpet section on NH-46 in Tamil Nadu is the most delayed road project at 125 months.

The Krishnagiri-Walajahpet corridor on the Golden Quadrilateral (GQ) is the main road connectivity between Chennai and Bangalore, and caters to both commercial and passenger movement between the two cities.

The second most delayed road project is Varanasi-Aurangabad Highway in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, which is delayed by 105 months.

The third most delayed project is the Muzaffarpur-Sonbarsa Road in Bihar at 102 months.

The Patna High Court, since 2019, has been monitoring all ongoing NH projects in the state to ensure their speedy completion. Only after the intervention of the High Court, the NHAI has resolved to finish the work on Muzaffarpur-Sonbarsa road by the end of 2022.

Railways

In railways, out of 173 monitored projects, 116 are delayed, with respect to their original schedule.

The report showed that the Muneerabad-Mahaboobnagar rail project is the most delayed project. It is delayed by 276 months. Incidentally, this is the most delayed project out of the 1526 projects in the report.

The second most delayed project is the Belapur-Seawood-Urban Electrified Double Line, which is delayed by 228 months. The third most delayed project is the Kotipalli-Narasapur rail project at 216 months.

Petroleum Sector

For petroleum sector, 88 out of 139 projects are delayed, with respect to their original schedule.

The 1104 km-long, Kochi–Koottanad–Bangalore–Mangalore Phase II project, is the most delayed project, with a delay of 146 months.

Owned by GAIL (India), this is an interstate natural gas pipeline project to transport natural gas from the Petronet LNG owned Kochi LNG import terminal and improve natural gas supply to South India.

The Irugur-Devanagonthi Petroleum, Oil, and Lubricants (POL) Pipeline Project in Tamil Nadu and LPG terminal at Kochi are other major delayed projects.

Indian Oil Corporation Ltd. (IOCL) launched the LPG Import terminal project at Puthuvype in Kochi in Kerala, intending to reduce LPG supplies from the Mangalore Refinery through roadways.

Power sector

A total of 53 out of 78 projects are behind their original schedule in the power sector.

The top delayed projects are Parbati HEP (171 months), Subansiri Lower HEP (155 months), and Barh STPP (149 months).

Parbati Hydroelectric Project (Stage-II) is a run-of-the-river scheme on the river Parbati in Himachal Pradesh. The 800 MW plant is expected to be commissioned in December 2023.

The Subansiri Lower HE Project, located near North Lakhimpur on the border of Arunachal Pradesh and Assam, is the biggest hydroelectric project undertaken in India so far and is a run of river scheme on river Subansiri.

The 2,000MW plant is being built by NHPC and would be completed by August 2023.

The Barh super thermal power project (STPP) is a supercritical coal-fired power station being developed by NTPC in Barh, Bihar.

It has an installed capacity of 3,300 MW; of which stage I is of 1,980 MW (3 x 660 MW unit each) and stage II of 1320 MW (2 x 660 MW unit each).

The project, the foundation stone of which was laid by the then Prime Minister late Atal Bihari Vajpayee on June 5, 1999, will be complete after unit 3 of stage I begins commercial generation of power by end of 2023.

Steel Sector

The NMDC integrated steel plant at Nagarnar in the state of Chhattisgarh, is the most delayed project in steel sector, with a delay of 94 months. 

As a forward integration and business diversification plan, NMDC is in the process of commissioning its 3 MTPA Integrated Steel Plant (NISP) at Nagarnar by March 2023.

The products of this plant will meet the country's growing demands of flat products in high grade steel and will contribute significantly towards India becoming self-reliant in the Steel sector.