205 railway projects report cost overrun of ₹2.21L cr

National transporter Indian Railways account for nearly three-fifths of 344 central sector projects that are facing huge cost overrun due to delay in implementation for various reasons.

The total cost overrun of 205 delayed railway projects is whopping Rs 2.21 lakh crore, the latest flash report of the Statistics and Programme Implementation Ministry (MOSPI) for December 2018 showed.

The MOSPI monitors central sector projects involving an expenditure of Rs 150 crore and above. According to the report, the total original cost of these 205 projects was Rs 1, 68, 116.34 crore up to December 2018. The total anticipated cost of these projects is estimated at Rs 3, 89, 745.97 crore, which indicates overall cost escalation by 131.83 per cent.

The ministry monitored 367 projects of Indian Railways in December 2018. The report stated that 94 of these projects reported time overrun or delay of one month to 324 months.

After the railways, the power sector reported the second highest incidence of overall cost overrun. Of the 95 projects monitored by the ministry in the power sector, 40 reported cost overrun of Rs 63,334.88 crore.

The total original cost of these 40 projects was Rs 1, 72, 830.59 crore, which escalated to an anticipated cost of Rs 2, 36, 165.47 crore.

The report stated that of the 95 power sector projects, 56 reported time overrun (delay) of two months to 147 months.

The third largest cost escalation was recorded in the road transport and highways sector where out of the 605 monitored projects, as many as 49 reported cost overrun.

These 49 projects in the road transport and highway sector reported a cost overrun of Rs 15,000.56 crore. The total original cost of these 49 projects was Rs 29,654.32 crore, which escalated to Rs 44,654.88 crore. As many as 112 projects in the sector reported a delay of one month to 131 months.