Around 450 infrastructure projects encounter cost overruns of ₹5.55 trillion
What's the story
An Indian government report has disclosed that 448 infrastructure projects, each with an investment of ₹150 crore or more, have experienced a cost overrun. This extends to the tune of ₹5.55 trillion in the third quarter of the fiscal year 2023-24. The Quarterly Project Implementation Status Report (QPISR) on Central Sector Projects, compiled by the Ministry of Statistics and Program Implementation, for Q3 of FY2023-24 provided information on 1,897 projects. This overrun represents a 65.2% increase over their approved budget.
Information
Time and cost overruns impacting 276 projects
The QPISR report revealed that an additional 292 projects reported a cost overrun of ₹2,89,699.46 crore based on their latest approved cost. Furthermore, it was found that both time and cost overruns were impacting 276 projects.
Project progress
Only 56 projects ahead of schedule
The QPISR report provides insights into the timelines of the projects. It reveals that only 56 projects were ahead of schedule, while 632 were on track as per their original timeline. However, a significant number, 902 to be precise, were lagging behind their original completion schedule. For an additional 307 projects, either the original or anticipated completion date was not reported or had lapsed.
Decreasing delays
Percentage of delayed projects decreased
Interestingly, the QPISR report shows a decrease in the percentage of delayed projects from 56.70% in the previous quarter ended December 2022, to 47.55% in the third quarter of FY24. The percentage of cost overrun also saw a slight reduction from 21.42% to 20.1%. This indicates some improvement in project management and execution over time, despite ongoing challenges.