Cost of 443 infra projects increased by Rs 4.92 lakh crore in February

The cost of 443 infrastructure projects, each involving an investment of Rs 150 crore or more, had escalated to more than Rs 4.92 lakh crore in February 2024, an official report said. According to the Ministry of Statistics and Program Implementation (MoSPI), which monitors infrastructure projects worth Rs 150 crore and above, out of 1,902 projects, 443 had cost overruns and 764 projects were delayed.

“The total original cost of implementation of 1,902 projects was Rs 27,08,030.44 crore, and their estimated full cost is likely to be Rs 32,00,507.55 crore, representing an overall cost overrun of Rs 4,92,477.11 crore (18.19 per cent of the original cost). Is. ), “said the ministry's latest report for February 2024.

According to the report, till February 2024, the expenditure on these projects was Rs 16,76,739 crore, which is 52.39 percent of the estimated cost of the projects.

However, if the delay is calculated based on the latest schedule of completion, the number of delayed projects reduces to 568.

Additionally, it said that for 389 projects, neither the year of commissioning nor the probable construction period has been reported.

Of the 764 delayed projects, 188 have a total delay of 1-12 months, 185 have a delay of 13-24 months, 275 projects have a delay of 25-60 months, and 116 projects have a delay of more than 60 months. .

The average time overrun in these 764 delayed projects is 36.27 months.

As pointed out by various project implementing agencies, reasons for time overruns include delays in land acquisition, obtaining forest and environment clearances, and lack of infrastructure support and linkages.

Delays in tie-up for project financing, finalization of detailed engineering, changes in scope, tendering, ordering and equipment supply, and law and order problems are among the other reasons.

The report also cited state-wise lockdowns due to COVID-19 (imposed in 2020 and 2021) as the reason for the delay in implementation of these projects.

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