346 infra projects show cost overruns of ₹4.46-lakh crore.

As many as 346 infrastructure projects, each entailing an investment of ₹150 crore or more, have been hit by cost overruns of more than ₹4.46-lakh crore, as per an official report.

According to Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, which monitors infrastructure projects worth ₹150 crore and above, out of 1,418 projects, 346 reported cost overruns and as many as 823 projects were delayed.

"Total original cost of implementation of the 1,418 projects was ₹20,38,026.75 crore and their anticipated completion cost is likely to be ₹24,84,846.99 crore, which reflects overall cost overruns of ₹4,46,820.24 crore (21.92 per cent of original cost)," the ministry's latest report for February 2023 said.

According to the report, the expenditure incurred on these projects till February 2023 is ₹13,62,707.98 crore, which is 54.84 per cent of the anticipated cost of the projects.

However, the number of delayed projects decreases to 643 if delay is calculated on the basis of the latest schedule of completion.

Further, it stated that for 316 projects neither the year of commissioning nor the tentative gestation period has been reported. Out of the 823 delayed projects, 172 have overall delays in the range of 1-12 months, 171 have been delayed for 13-24 months, 355 projects for 25-60 months and 125 projects have been delayed for more than 60 months.

The average time overrun in these 823 delayed projects was 38.63 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.

HBL