Over Rs 10k crore lying ‘locked’ in 176 incomplete projects in Gujarat: CAG

All of these incomplete projects belonged to just two departments — the Roads and Buildings department (159 projects) and Narmada Water Resources, Water Dupply and Kalpasar department (17 projects).

“Blocking of funds in incomplete projects impinges negatively on quality of expenditure and deprives state of intended benefits for prolonged periods,” the CAG stated, without giving specific details of the incomplete projects and implementing agencies.

Citing the age of these incomplete projects, the CAG stated that there was one project worth Rs 30 crore, which dates back to 2013-’14. About 50 per cent of the cost of the project has already been spent. Similarly, five more projects worth Rs 346 crore that were from the year 2016-’17, where Rs 217 crore has already been spent. The highest number of pending projects belong to the 2019-’20 where 57 projects worth Rs 4,129 crore were still incomplete.

Of the projects worth Rs 10,747 crore, around Rs 7477 crore has already been spent as on March 31, 2022. “The health and family welfare department and women and child development department get their capital works done through Project Implementation Units while Home department gets its capital works done through Police Housing Corporation Ltd. Similarly, some of the irrigation works related to Narmada and water resources department are carried out by SSNNL or Sardar Sarovar Narmada Nigam Limited. The depiction of capital works to this extent does not get reflected in the finance accounts,” CAG added.