333 projects put extra burden of Rs 50,000 crore

NEW DELHI: Inordinate delays in implementation of projects have put an extra burden worth Rs 50,000 crore on the public exchequer.

According to a report of the ministry of statistic and programme implementation, the cost overruns to the tune of Rs 51,617.92 crore in 333 ongoing projects. The report has factored in 631 ongoing projects.

Though the UPA government admitted in Parliament of the escalating cost, it failed to give any detail about the timeline for the implementation of these projects. The original cost of 333 projects was Rs 323146.8 crore, which ballooned toRs 374764.72 crore, as on March 2010 due to delay in execution.

The escalated cost is pegged at 13.89% higher than the original approved cost. In the sector-wise analysis, the report found out that of the 333 delayed projects, road transport and highway sector accounts for the maximum number at 130, followed by petroleum (41), railways (40), power (33), coal (27) and telecom (26).

Minister of state for statistics and programme implementation Sriprakash Jaiswal, in a written reply to Parliament, said, “the main reason for cost and time overrun include delay in procurement of equipment, law and order problems, inadequate infrastructure and rise in input cost.”

When projects worth Rs 150 crore and above was considered, the number of delayed projects was 268, and the cost overruns in these projects touched Rs 50,295 crore. It was stated that the cost overrun of these projects was 15.8 per cent of their original approved costs.