Cost Overrun Worth Rs 4.38 Lakh Cr Reported in 470 Infra Projects

In past also, we all have witnessed senior cabinet ministers taking up the infrastructure project delays seriously in review meetings. In a most recent check, as many as 470 infrastructure projects reported cost overrun of over Rs 4.38 lakh crore as of May 1, 2021.

The Flash Report on Central sector projects for April published by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation showed that 525 projects are running behind schedule.

Out of the 1,737 projects, only 11 projects are ahead of schedule, 213 are on schedule, showed the report.

"Total original cost of implementation of the 1737 projects was 22,33,409.53 crore and their anticipated completion cost is likely to be 26,71,440.77 crore, which reflects overall cost overruns of 4,38,031.24 crore (19.61 per cent of original cost)," it said.

The expenditure incurred on these projects till April 2021 is just over Rs 13.16 lakh crore, which is 49.26 per cent of the anticipated cost of the projects, as per the ministry's report.

It, however, added that the number of delayed projects decreases to 375 if delay is calculated on the basis of latest schedule of completion. Further, for 988 projects neither the year of commissioning nor the tentative gestation period has been reported.