369 infra projects show cost overrun of over Rs 3.58 lakh cr

New Delhi: As many as 369 infrastructure projects, each worth Rs 150 crore or above, have shown cost overruns to the tune of over Rs 3.58 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 1420 projects was Rs 18,05,667.72 crore and their anticipated completion cost is likely to be Rs 21,63,672.09 crore, which reflects overall cost overruns of Rs 3,58,004.37 crore (19.83% of original cost)," the ministry's latest report for September 2018 said.

Of these 1,420 projects, 369 reported cost overruns and 366 time escalation. According to the report, the expenditure incurred on these projects till September 2018 is Rs 7,83,503 crore, which is 36.21 per cent of the anticipated cost of the projects. However, it said the number of delayed projects decreases to 300 if delay is calculated on the basis of latest schedule of completion.

For 651 projects, neither the year of commissioning nor the tentative gestation period has been reported. Out of 366 delayed projects, 100 have overall delay in the range of 1 to 12 months, 69 have 13 to 24 months, 91 projects reflect delay of 25 to 60 months and 106 projects show 61 months and above delay. It also said the average time overrun in these 366 delayed projects is 45.95 months. The brief reasons for time overruns as reported by various project implementing agencies are delays in land acquisition, forest clearance and supply of equipment.

Besides, there are other reasons like fund constraints, geological surprises, geo-mining conditions, slow progress in civil works, shortage of labour, inadequate mobilisation by the contractor, Maoist problems, court cases, contractual issues, ROU/ROW (right of use/right of way) problems, law and order situation, among others.

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