As many as 438 infrastructure projects, each worth Rs 150 crore or more, have been hit by cost overruns totalling more than Rs 4.3 lakh crore, according to a report.

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The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation monitors infrastructure projects worth Rs 150 crore and above.

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Of the 1,670 such projects, 438 reported cost overruns and 563 were delayed.

"Total original cost of implementation of the 1,670 projects was Rs 21,66,048.11 crore and their anticipated completion cost is likely to be Rs 25,96,907.70 crore, which reflects overall cost overruns of Rs 4,30,859.59 crore (19.89 per cent of original cost)," the ministry's latest report for September 2021 said.

According to the report, the expenditure incurred on these projects till September 2021 is Rs 12,54,512.40 crore, which is 48.31 per cent of the anticipated cost of the projects.

However, the report said that the number of delayed projects decreases to 380 if delay is calculated on the basis of latest schedule of completion.

Further, for 808 projects neither the year of commissioning nor the tentative gestation period has been reported.

Out of the 563 delayed projects, 100 have overall delay in the range of 1-12 months, 120 have been delayed for 13-24 months, 216 for 25-60 months and 127 projects have delays of 61 months and above.

The average time overrun in these 563 delayed projects is 47 months.

Reasons for time overruns as reported by various project implementing agencies include delay in land acquisition, delay in obtaining forest and environment clearances, and lack of infrastructure support and linkages.

Delay in tie-up for project financing, delay in finalisation of detailed engineering, change in scope, delay in tendering, ordering and equipment supply, and law and order problems are among the other reasons.

The report also cited state-wise lockdowns due to COVID-19 as a reason for the delay in implementation of these projects.

It has also been observed that project agencies are not reporting revised cost estimates and commissioning schedules for many projects, which suggests that time/cost overrun figures are under-reported, it added.