Projects delay to increase cost expense

New Delhi: The delay in 267 Central infrastructure projects in sectors like petroleum, power and railways has resulted in cost overrun of over Rs 21,500 crore.

The cost of these 267 projects have gone up by 15.51 per cent or Rs 21,531.41 crore and the anticipated cost would be Rs 1,60,391.97 crore as against the approved expenditure of Rs 1,38,860.56 crore, Minister of State for Statistics and Programme Implementation G K Vasan told Rajya Sabha.

The delay in these critical projects varied from two months to 13 years, the Minister said in his written reply. In the petroleum sector, the delay in 25 projects by up to four years is expected to result in additional cost of Rs 10,183.13 crore.

The cost of these projects have gone up to Rs 46,366.06 crore as against the approved expenditure of Rs 36,182.93 crore.

The Railways sector, where Railway Minister Lalu Prasad got applause for showing cash surplus of Rs 25,000 crore this year, is likely to cause a loss of over Rs 8,500 crore to the exchequer due to delay in 33 projects.

In some cases, the projects are running behind schedule by more than 13 years in this sector. However,the largest number of projects were delayed in the road transport and highways, where 86 projects would result in cost overrun by Rs 532.96 crore and the delay would be from one month to six years.

Interestingly, despite delay by up to 4.5 years, the anticipated cost of 32 telecommunication projects has been revised downward by Rs 615.50 crore.

Sharing the concerns of members over the delay in projects, the Minister said that the government has decided to undertake 'in-depth review of projects on monthly and quarterly basis' apart from taking other measures.