362 infra projects show cost overruns of over Rs 3.39L crore

New Delhi: As many as 362 infrastructure projects, each worth Rs 150 crore or above, have shown cost overruns to the tune of over Rs 3.39 lakh crore owing to delays and other reasons, a report said.

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

"Total original cost of implementation of the 1417 projects was Rs 17,38,095.86 crore and their anticipated completion cost is likely to be Rs 20,77,898.81 crore, which reflects overall cost overruns of Rs 3,39,802.95 crore (19.55% of original cost)," the ministry's latest report for August 2018 said.

Of these 1,417 projects, 362 reported cost overruns and 317-time escalation.

According to the report, the expenditure incurred on these projects till August 2018 is Rs 7,76,351.56 crore, which is 37.36 per cent of the anticipated cost of the projects.

However, it said the number of delayed projects decreases to 249 if the delay is calculated by latest schedule of completion.

For 694 projects, neither the year of commissioning nor the tentative gestation period has been reported. Out of 317 delayed projects, 86 projects have an overall delay in the range of 1-12 months, 55 projects have 13-24 months, 87 projects reflect a delay of 25-60 months and 89 projects show 61 months and above delay.

It also said that the average time overrun in these 317 delayed projects is 46.72 months.

WITH PTI inputs