Parliament was informed on Monday that 144 government infrastructure projects had reported delays in completion in the current fiscal year, with a total cost overrun of Rs 14,960.02 crore.
In a written reply to the Rajya Sabha, Statistics Minister Rao Inderjit Singh stated that the overall projected cost of these 144 projects was 1,82,453.84 crore, up from the earlier estimate of 1,67,493.82 crore. The Minister told the Upper House that important initiatives made to ensure that centrally sponsored infrastructure projects were completed on time and on the budget included video conferencing for periodic assessment of projects under PRAGATI, rigorous project assessment, and an online computerised remote monitoring.
The procedures would include the establishment of revised cost committees in ministries to assign responsibility for time and expense overruns, as well as the frequent evaluation of infrastructure projects by the relevant administrative ministries.
