A recent report by the government said that in April, as many as 448 infrastructure projects were hit by a cost overrun of more than Rs 5.55 lakh crore.
These projects entailed an investment of Rs 150 crore or above for each project. Out of 1,838 projects, 448 reported cost overruns and 792 projects were delayed, Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) said.
The data further said that the total original cost of implementation of the 1,838 projects was Rs 27,64,246.50 crore, and their anticipated completion cost is likely to be Rs 33,19,601.84 crore, which reflects an overall cost overrun of over Rs 5, 55,355.34 — which is 20.09 per cent of original cost.
Of the 792 delayed projects, 220 have overall delays in the range of 1-12 months, 192 have been delayed for 13-24 months, 259 projects for 25-60 months, and 121 projects for more than 60 months, the data from the ministry said.
The average time overrun in these 792 delayed projects is 35.4 months.
The expenditure incurred on these projects till April 2024 is Rs 1,692,997.5 crore crore, which is 51 per cent of the anticipated cost of the projects, the report said.
The number of delayed projects decreased to 514 if the delay is calculated on the basis of the latest schedule of completion, it added.
Some of the common reasons for the time overrun of these projects, as reported by various project implementing agencies, include land acquisition, environmental clearance, financial issues, contractual/internal issues, manpower shortage and litigation issues.