443 infra projects hits cost overruns of Rs 4.45 lakh crore: Report

A government report revealed that 443 infrastructure projects, with the cost of investment of over Rs 150 crore, have been hit by cost overruns totalling over Rs 4.45 lakh crore. The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MOSPI) monitors infrastructure projects of Rs 150 crore and above. As per the report, till January 2022, expenditure incurred on these projects stood at Rs 13,16,293.63 crore or 48.76% of the estimated project cost. From 1,671 such projects, 514 projects were delayed, and 443 reported cost overruns. However, the number of delayed projects reduces to 381, based on the latest completion schedule. Moreover, for 881 projects, neither the year of commissioning nor the tentative gestation period has been declared. Out of the 514 delayed projects, 89 have a total delay of one to two months, 113 are delayed for 13-24 months, 204 for 25-60 months, and 108 projects have been delayed for over 61 months. Overall estimated time overrun in these 514 delayed projects is 46.23 months. Various agencies executing these projects notified reasons for time overrun, such as delay in land acquisition, delay in getting environment approvals, and shortage of infrastructure linkages and support. Additional reasons include finalisation detail engineering delay, change in scope, law and order issues, and many other reasons. According to the report, the state-wise lockdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic was one of the reasons for the delay. It also mentioned that project agencies are not reporting revised cost estimates and schedule commissioning for various projects, which shows that time/cost overrun figures are under-reported. Image Source Also read: 445 infra projects hits cost overrun of Rs 4.4 lakh crore