The expenditure on 388 projects in the infrastructure sector is Rs. 4.65 lakh crore increase

- Delay in projects due to delay in land acquisition, long time in obtaining approval from environment and forest department

New Delhi: In the infrastructure sector, Rs. 388 projects with an outlay of 150 crores or more cost more than the July 2023 estimate of Rs. 4.65 lakh crore has increased to more than Rs. The Ministry of Statistics and Program Implementation said that the cost of these projects has increased due to project delays and other reasons, a report said.

The ministry's report said that out of 1,646 such projects, 388 had cost overruns, while 809 projects were running late. The basic cost of implementing these 1,646 projects is Rs. 23,92,837.89 crore, but now it has increased to Rs. 28,58,394.39 crore is estimated. This shows that 19.46 percent of the cost of these projects i.e. Rs. 4,65,556.50 crore has increased.

According to the report, till July 2023 on these projects Rs. 15,21,550.38 crore has been spent, which is 53.23 percent of the total estimated expenditure. The number of delayed projects will come down to 602 if the latest timeline for project completion is taken into account, the ministry has said.

The report said that out of 809 delayed projects, 177 projects have been delayed for one month to 12 months, 192 projects for 13 to 24 months, 318 projects for 25 to 60 months and 122 projects for more than 60 months. The average delay in these 809 projects is 37.44 months.

The major reasons for delay in these projects are delay in land acquisition, delay in getting approval from environment and forest department and lack of infrastructure.

Besides delay in project financing, detailed engineering, change in project scope, delay in tendering process, delay in award of contract and procurement of equipment, legal and other issues, unexpected changes in land etc. have delayed the project.