Cost overruns declined further in May to 19.86%

The anticipated costs of 1,681 projects were Rs 4.8 lakh crore, higher than the original cost of Rs 24.2 lakh crore.

Nearly half of the infrastructure projects worth Rs 150 crore and more monitored by the ministry were delayed with respect to the original schedule, of which another 607 were delayed with respect to the latest schedule as well.

While 430 projects were on schedule, the ministry, in its report on Saturday, stated that 18 projects were running ahead of schedule as on June 1.

With respect to the time taken for completion of projects, the average time overrun had also declined to 37.04 months in May, compared with 37.07 months in April.

Nearly 53 per cent of the projects were delayed for over two years.The ministry further stated that 87 projects were added during May, which included 72 projects from the roads ministry alone, whereas ten road projects were completed last month.The roads ministry accounts for 57 per cent of the projects monitored by the ministry. Of the 962 ongoing projects, 173 faced cost overruns, which increased the anticipated cost by nearly 4.6 per cent compared with the original cost.

In the case of Railways, 132 of 173 projects monitored by the ministry faced cost overruns, with anticipated costs 70.7 per cent higher than the original cost. Railways also accounted for a higher proportion of projects facing time overruns.

Among the states, projects based in northeastern states accounted for the highest cost overruns. While in Punjab, only 2 of 33 projects faced cost overruns. The overall cost of projects in Punjab was still lower than anticipated.