Out of Centre’s 1,454 infra projects, 871 delayed: Govt report

Munirabad-Mahabubnagar rail project in Telangana most-delayed by 276 months, according to a report

Hyderabad: As many as 871 projects undertaken by the Centre are delayed with respect to their original schedules and 272 projects have reported additional delays with regard to their date of completion, according to a government report. Among these, the Munirabad-Mahabubnagar rail project in Telangana was the most delayed project, lagging behind by a staggering 276 months, while 20 out of 44 Central projects in Telangana were also among the inordinately delayed ones.

The road transport and highways sector has the maximum number of delayed projects at 460, followed by railways at 117 and the petroleum industry at 90. In the road transport and highways sector, 460 out of 749 projects are delayed. In railways, out of 173 projects, 117 are delayed, while in the petroleum sector, 90 out of 152 projects are running behind schedule, as per the latest flash report on infrastructure projects for January 2023 of the Infrastructure and Project Monitoring Division (IPMD), which monitors central sector infrastructure projects costing Rs.150 crore and above, based on the information provided on the Online Computerised Monitoring System (OCMS) by the project implementing agencies.

---

The report says that the Munirabad-Mahabubnagar rail project was the most delayed project. It was delayed by a staggering 276 months. The project was started in 1997, however, even after 26 years, the project continues to be delayed and as per the latest estimates, the anticipated date of commissioning was supposed to be March 2023. The second-most delayed project was the Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla rail project, which was delayed by 247 months. The third-most delayed project was the Belapur-Seawood-Urban Electrified Double Line, which was delayed by 228 months.

In Telangana, there were 44 central projects, of which 20 were delayed or had overrun schedule. The original cost of these delayed projects was Rs.20,283.88 crore, while the anticipated cost was now Rs.22,089.74 crore.

The six-laning of Krishnagiri-Walajahpet section on NH-46 in Tamil Nadu was the most delayed road project at 125 months, whereas the 1104 km-long, Kochi–Koottanad–Bangalore–Mangalore Phase II project, is the most delayed rail project, with a delay of 146 months.

According to the flash report for January 2023 of the IPMD, out of the 1,454 central sector infrastructure projects costing Rs.150 crore and above, 871 projects were delayed with respect to their original schedules and 272 projects reported additional delays with regard to their date of completion. Of these 272 projects, 59 were mega projects costing Rs.1,000 crore and above.

The report stated that as many as 170 projects had overall delays in the range of 1-12 months, 134 were delayed for 13-24 months, 411 projects for 25-60 months and 130 projects were delayed for 61 months and above.

About the road transport and highways sector, the report stated that the total original cost of implementation of 749 projects when sanctioned was of the order of Rs 4,09,053.84 crore, but this was subsequently anticipated at Rs 4,27,518.41 crore, implying a cost overrun of 4.5 percent.

Similarly, in railways, the total original cost of implementation of 173 projects when sanctioned was of the order of Rs.3,72,761.45 crore but this was subsequently anticipated to rise to Rs.6,26,632.52 crore, implying a cost overrun of 68.1 percent. The expenditure incurred on these projects till January 2023 was Rs.3,72,172.64 crore, which was 59.4 percent of the anticipated cost of the projects.