‘358 Central infra projects face Rs 3.38 lakh crore cost overrun’

Out of the total 1,361 projects under implementation, 400 are mega projects with an individual outlay of over Rs 1,000 crore constituting 77 per cent of the total project development outlay. The original cost of implementation for 1,361 projects is pegged at Rs 16.78 lakh crore. These projects after latest evaluation are expected to cost Rs 20.16 lakh crore, of which Rs. 7.68 lakh crore or 38.1 per cent of anticipated cost have been already incurred, Care Ratings said

Projects without definitive timelines are unmonitored projects which are yet to report timelines or status of completion. This also indicates more projects being added in the pipeline and the timelines will be definitive going forward, it said. There are 358 projects with cost overruns and 66 projects which are showing both cost overruns and delay. Even though the number of projects with cost overruns has risen marginally, the number of projects with both coast and time overrun has reduced by almost one-third, it said.

Maharashtra has topped the list of states with maximum number of central infrastructure projects, accounting for 9.2 per cent of projects by value being implemented in India, says the Care Ratings study. The state has 129 projects being implemented at a total original cost of Rs 1.72 lakh crore. The other states in the top 5 category are Uttar Pradesh (6 per cent), Tamil Nadu (6.5 per cent), Andhra Pradesh (5.1 per cent) and Odisha (4.3 per cent). “The top 5 states account for 30.2 per cent of the total projects being implemented by value and 29 per cent of the total number of projects being implemented,” it said, Other states with significant projects under implementation in value terms are Karnataka (4 per cent), Bihar (4.3 per cent), Madhya Pradesh (3.5 per cent), West Bengal (3.1 per cent) and Chhattisgarh (3.5 per cent).