Central Projects

As per data maintained by Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MOSPI) for on-going central sector projects costing Rs. 150 crore and above for the period ending December 2014, 59 projects were completed during 2014-15 and involved time overruns between two to seventy-five months. As reported by implementing agencies, major reasons of time overruns are delay in land acquisition, environmental & forest clearances, fund constraints, rehabilitation & resettlement of project affected persons, delay in supply of equipment, contractual disputes, law & order problems, etc. This information was given by the Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Planning, Shri Rao Inderjit Singh in a written reply in Lok Sabha today.

The Minister said that as per data maintained by MOSPI for the on-going central sector projects costing Rs. 150 crore and above for the period ending December 2014, out of a total of 738 projects, 224 projects involve cost escalation. The major steps undertaken to ensure completion of projects without cost escalation include rigorous project appraisal; On-line Computerized Monitoring System (OCMS) for better monitoring; setting up of Standing Committees in the Ministries for fixation of responsibility for time and cost overruns; regular review of projects by the concerned administrative Ministries; and setting up of Central Sector Projects Coordination Committees (CSPCCs) in the States under the Chief Secretaries for removal of bottlenecks and for facilitating speedy and timely implementation of major projects.

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