As many as 384 infrastructure projects, each entailing an investment of Rs 150 crore or more, have suffered cost overruns of more than Rs 4.66 lakh crore in January-March, 2023. According to the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, out of 1,566 projects, 384 reported cost overruns and as many as 931 projects were delayed.
The Quarterly Project Implementation Status Report (QPISR) on central sector projects (costing Rs 150 crore and above) for the fourth quarter of 2022-23 has revealed key information. The projects cover 443 mega projects (each costing Rs 1,000 crore and above), and 1,123 major projects (of Rs 150 crore and above but below Rs 1,000 crore).
Out of 1,566 projects, 384 projects witnessed cost overruns of Rs 4,66,874.46 crore which corresponds to 21.59 percent of their sanctioned cost. Further, 931 projects were delayed with respect to the original schedule of completion, and for 331 projects, the date of completion was not reported.
With regard to the latest approved cost, 285 projects had reported cost overruns of Rs 1,97,069.19 crore. Moreover, 259 projects witnessed both time and cost overruns. The estimated completion cost of these 1,566 projects is reported to be Rs 26,29,193.77 crore.
The total expenditure as on 31 March, 2023 was Rs 14,71,873.93 crore which comes to 55.98 percent of the total anticipated completion cost. For these 1,566 projects, Rs 2,81,251.99 crore has been allocated for 2022-23.
The percentage of delayed projects went from 41.27 percent in the quarter ending March 2022 to 59.45 percent in the quarter ending March 2023. The major factors cited for time overruns include the environment, forest and wildlife clearances, land acquisition issues, COVID-19-led lockdown and others.
