Infra projects' cost overrun crosses Rs 4 lakh crore mark

New Delhi: As many as 388 infrastructure projects, each worth Rs 150 crore or more, have been hit by cost overruns of more than Rs 4 lakh crore owing to delays and other reasons, according to a report. The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation monitors infrastructure projects worth Rs 150 crore and above. Of such 1,636 projects, 388 projects reported cost overruns and 563 projects time escalation.

"Total original cost of implementation of the 1,636 projects was Rs 19,52,524.85 crore and their anticipated completion cost is likely to be Rs 23,53,108.80 crore, which reflects overall cost overruns of 4,00,583.95 crore (20.52 per cent of original cost)," the ministry's latest report for October 2019 said.

Further, it said that for 720 projects, neither the year of commissioning nor the tentative gestation period has been reported.

Out of the 563 delayed projects, 185 projects have overall delay in the range of 1 to 12 months, 123 projects in the range of 13 to 24 months, 136 projects reflect delay in the range of 25 to 60 months and 119 projects show delay of 61 months and above. With agency inputs