Central Sector Infrastructure Projects Of Rs 150 Crore And Above Hit By Cost Overrun Of Over Rs 4 Lakh Crore

Around 504 central sector infrastructure projects are delayed to their original schedules, and 89 projects have reported additional delays vis-à-vis their date of completion reported in the previous month.

Of these 89 projects, 23 are Mega Projects costing Rs 1,000 crore and above.

This information was provided by the flash report by the Infrastructure and Project Monitoring Division of the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation for July 2021 on central sector projects.

The report contained information on the status of the 1,781 projects costing Rs 150 crore and above.

The total original cost of implementing the 1,781 projects was Rs 22,82,160 crore, and their anticipated completion cost is likely to be Rs 27,25,408 crore, reflecting the overall cost overruns of Rs 4,43,247 crore (19.42 per cent of original cost).

The expenditure incurred on these projects till July 2021 is Rs 13,22,515 crore, which is 48.53 per cent of the projects' anticipated cost.

Out of the 1781 projects, 13 projects are ahead of schedule, 263 are on schedule, 504 are delayed, 483 projects reported cost overrun and 199 projects reported both time and cost overrun to their original project implementation schedules.

Out of 504 delayed projects, 92 (18.25 per cent) projects have overall delay for 1 to 12 months, 118 (23.41 per cent) projects have a delay in the range of 13 to 24 months, 178 (35.32 per cent) projects have a delay in the range of 25 to 60 months and 116 (23.01 per cent) projects have a delay of 61 months and above.

The average time overrun in these 504 delayed projects is 46.85 months.

"It has also been observed that project agencies are not reporting revised cost estimates and commissioning schedules for many projects, which suggests that time or cost overrun figures are underreported," the Infrastructure and Project Monitoring Division said in the flash report.

Delay in land acquisition, delay in obtaining forest or environment clearances, lack of infrastructure support and linkages, delay in a tie-up of project financing, delay in finalisation of detailed engineering, delay in tendering are some reasons for time overruns as reported by various project implementing agencies.

Also, delay in ordering and equipment supply, law and order problems, geological surprises, pre-commissioning teething troubles and inadequate workforce are some other reasons identified.

State-wise lockdown due to COVID-19 is also identified as a factor for delay in project implementation.