Road transport and highways sector has maximum number of delayed projects: Government report

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The road transport and highways sector has the maximum number of delayed projects at 262, followed by railways at 115 and the petroleum sector at 89, showed a government report.

In the road transport and highways sector, 262 out of 835 projects are delayed. In railways, out of 173 projects, 115 are delayed, while for petroleum, 89 out of 140 projects are delayed, as per the latest flash report on infrastructure projects for September 2022.

The Infrastructure and Project Monitoring Division (IPMD) is mandated to monitor 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 IPMD comes under the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation.

The report showed that the Muneerabad-Mahaboobnagar rail project is the most-delayed project. It is delayed by 276 months. The second-most delayed project is the Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla rail project which is delayed by 247 months.

The third-most delayed project is Belapur-Seawood-Urban Electrified Double Line, which is delayed by 228 months. About the road transport and highways sector, the report stated that the total original cost of implementation of 835 projects when sanctioned, was Rs 4,94,300.45 crore.

This was subsequently anticipated at Rs 5,26,481.88 crore, implying a cost overrun of 6.5 per cent. The expenditure incurred on these projects till September 2022 is Rs 3,21,980.33 crore, which is 61.2 per cent of the anticipated cost of the projects.

About railways, it said the total original cost of implementation of 173 projects when sanctioned, was of the order of Rs 3,72,761.45 crore, which later increased to Rs 6,23,008.98 crore, implying a cost overrun of 67.1 per cent.

The expenditure incurred on these projects till September 2022 is Rs 3,50,349.9 crore, which is 56.2 per cent of the anticipated cost of the projects.

In the petroleum sector, it said the total original cost of implementation of 140 projects when sanctioned, was of the order of Rs 3,64,330.55 crore, which rose to  Rs 3,84,102.18 crore, showing a cost overrun of 5.4 per cent.

The expenditure incurred on these projects till September 2022 is Rs 1,38,460.78 crore, which is 36 per cent of their anticipated cost of the projects.