The road transport and highways sector has, as per a government report, faced the maximum number of delayed projects at 402, followed by Railways at 115. In the road and highways sector, as many as 402 out of 749 projects are running behind schedule, while in the Railway sector, 115 out of 173 projects are hanging fire.
Based on the information provided on the Online Computerised Monitoring System (OCMS) by the project implementing agencies, the Infrastructure and Project Monitoring Division (IPMD) is mandated to monitor central sector infrastructure projects costing Rs 150 crore and above. The IPMD comes under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation.
According to the report, the Munirabad-Mahabubnagar rail project is the most delayed, running behind the deadline by 276 months. The Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla rail project is considered to be the second-most delayed project, which is hanging fire by 247 months.
Belapur-Seawood-Urban Electrified Double Line is reported to be the third most delayed project, which is running 228 months behind schedule.
The Flash Report for March 2023 gives information on the status of the 1,449 central sector infrastructure projects costing Rs 150 crore and above.
As many as 821 projects are delayed, 354 reported cost overrun and 247 projects reported both time and cost overrun with respect to their original project implementation schedules.
A total of 821 projects are delayed in comparison with their original schedules and 165 projects are said to be additional delays vis-a-vis their date of completion reported in the previous month. Out of 165 projects, 52 are said to be mega projects that cost Rs 1,000 crore and above.
Regarding the road transport and highways sector, the report said that the total original cost of implementation of 749 projects at the time of sanction was of around 2,893.85 crore, but this was subsequently anticipated to cost Rs 45,11,68.46 crore, indicating cost overrun of 4.2 per cent. Till March, 2023,the expenditure incurred on these projects was Rs 2,31,620.94 crore, which was 51.3 per cent of the anticipated cost of the projects.
As far as railways is concerned, total cost of implementation of 173 projects during their sanction was of the order of Rs 3,72,761.45 crore, but this was subsequently anticipated to Rs 6,27,160.59 crore, implying a cost overrun of 68.2 per cent. Till March, 2023, the expenditure incurred on these projects was Rs 3,84,947.64 crore, which was 61.4 per cent of the anticipated cost of the projects.
(With inputs from PTI)
