354 infra projects show cost overruns of Rs 4.55 lakh cr

New Delhi: As many as 354 infrastructure projects, each entailing an investment of Rs.150 crore or more, have been hit by cost overruns of more than Rs.4.55 lakh crore, as per an official report.

According to the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, which monitors infrastructure projects worth Rs.150 crore and above, out of 1,449 projects, 354 reported cost overruns and as many as 821 projects were delayed.

"Total original cost of implementation of the 1,449 projects was Rs.20,69,658.30 crore and their anticipated completion cost is likely to be Rs 25,25,348.87 crore, which reflects overall cost overruns of Rs.4,55,690.57 crore (22.02 per cent of original cost)," the ministry's latest report for March, 2023 said.

According to the report, the expenditure incurred on these projects till March 2023, is Rs 13,90,736.58 crore, which is 55.07 per cent of the anticipated cost of the projects.

However, the number of delayed projects decreased to 616, if delay is calculated on the basis of the latest schedule of completion.

Further, it stated that for 333 projects neither the year of commissioning nor the tentative gestation period has been reported.

Out of the 821 delayed projects, 190 have overall delays in the range of 1-12 months, 177 have been delayed for 13-24 months, 325 projects for 25-60 months and 129 projects have been delayed for more than 60 months.

The average time overrun in these 821 delayed projects was 37.79 months.

Reasons for time overruns as reported by various project implementing agencies include delay in land acquisition, delay in obtaining forest and environment clearances, and lack of infrastructure support and linkages.

Delay in tie-up for project financing, finalisation of detailed engineering, change in scope, tendering, ordering and equipment supply, and law and order problems were among the other reasons.

The report also cited state-wise lockdowns due to COVID-19 (imposed in 2020 and 2021) as a reason for the delay in implementation of these projects.

It has also been observed that project executing agencies are not reporting revised cost estimates and commissioning schedules for many projects, which suggests that time/cost overrun figures are under-reported, it added.