Time and cost overruns in infra projects declining: Govt

The percentage of delayed projects has also come down from 62.2 pct in March 1993 to 52.01 pct in Sept 2010.

In a move that could encourage many big investments in the sector,the government has said that time and cost overruns in the infrastructure projects has improved significantly in 2010 compared to 1991.

The overall cost overrun in projects (worth Rs 150 crore or more) has come down from 61.6 per cent in March 1991 to astonishing 21.10 per cent in September 2010,a review by Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation said.

This was possible due to tightening of procedures and monitoring and feedback to the ministries and departments implementing the projects,it said.

Reduction assumes significance in view of the government’s ambitious plan to attract investments worth USD one trillion for development of infrastructure in the 12th Five Year Plan (2012-2017). Half of this investment is envisaged to come from the private sector.

Besides reduction in cost overrun,the percentage of delayed projects has also come down from 62.2 per cent in March 1993 to 52.01 per cent in September 2010.

According to the latest data available,as many as 49 projects worth Rs 150 crore and above were completed at a cost of Rs 42,101 crore.

All this could have been possible because of the on line computerised monitoring system (OCMS) which improved the quality of monitoring.

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According to the findings of the ministry,the online submission of reports by project enterprises reached a level of 90 per cent.