The anticipated cost of 1,838 projects with a value of Rs 150 crore and above, at Rs 33.2 lakh crore, was Rs 5.6 lakh crore higher than the original cost, with the ratio of delayed projects also rising compared with the previous few months.
While 43% or 792 projects were delayed with respect to the original completion date, 514 were delayed with respect to the original cost as well.
Data released by the government showed that 61 projects were completed in April, while it onboarded 29 new projects.
The cost of completed projects was Rs 46,649.7 crore, whereas the newly added projects cost Rs 1.3 lakh crore.
The government’s thrust on infrastructure has been highlighted by international agencies as a growth driver and is likely to continue in the coming year as well.A recent ET poll noted that the economy likely grew 7.8% in FY24 and is expected to grow 6.8% in the current fiscal.While the cost overruns rose in April, the average time for project completion dipped to 35. 4 months compared with 36.04 in March; 48% of the projects were delayed for a period of over two years.
“54 of 1838 projects – with time overrun of over 50 months and cost overrun of over 50% contributed43.39% of the total cost overrun and 21.34% of the total time overrun,” the government noted in its report.
Among the major sectors, railways faced the highest cost overruns of 126.5% in April, as over half of its projects registered with the government were facing cost overruns. Road transport and highways, which accounts for nearly 60% of the projects, had a cost overrun ratio of 23.7%.
A third of Railways and over 10% of projects in roads faced time overruns, according to government data.
Content Source: economictimes.indiatimes.com