(a) whether there have been delays in the completion of ongoing railway projects and if so, the details thereof;
(b) whether the Government has conducted any study to ascertain the reasons for the delay;
(c) if so the details thereof;
(d) whether the Government is aware that the delay in execution of the projects cause huge losses to the Railways; and
(e) if so, the details thereof and the response of the Government thereto?
MINISTER OF RAILWAYS, COMMERCE & INDUSTRY AND
CONSUMER AFFAIRS, FOOD & PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION
(SHRI PIYUSH GOYAL)
(a) to (e): A Statement is laid on the Table of the House.
STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (a) TO (e) OF UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 4631 BY SHRI NALIN KUMAR KATEEL, SHRI PARTHIBAN S.R. AND SHRI B.Y. RAGHAVENDRA TO BE ANSWERED IN LOK SABHA ON 24.03.2021 REGARDING DELAY IN ONGOING RAILWAY PROJECTS
(a) to (d): As on 01.04.2020, 513 Railway projects of 53,039 km length, costing approx. `7.5 lakh crore are in different stages of planning/sanction/execution, out of which 10,013 km length has been commissioned and an expenditure of `1.86 lakh crore has been incurred upto March, 2020. These include:-
(i) 189 New line projects of 21,343 km length, costing `4,04,853 crore, out of which commissioning of 2,633 km length has been achieved and expenditure of `94,575 crore has been incurred upto March, 2020.
(ii) 54 Gauge Conversion projects of 7,003 km length, costing `59,699 crore, out of which commissioning of 3,733 km length has been achieved and expenditure of `23,405 crore has been incurred upto March, 2020.
(iii) 270 Doubling projects of 24,693 km length, costing `2,85,324 crore, out of which commissioning of 3,647 km length has been achieved and expenditure of `67,816 crore has been incurred upto March, 2020.
Completion of a Railway project(s) depends on various factors like expeditious land acquisition by State Government, forest clearance by officials of forest department, shifting of infringing utilities, statutory clearances from various authorities, geological and topographical conditions of area, law and order situation in the area of project site, number of working months in a year for particular project site due to climatic conditions etc. and all these factors affect the completion time and cost of the project(s) which is finally worked out at the completion stage.
(e): Various steps being taken by the Government for effective and speedy implementation of rail projects include (i) prioritisation of projects (ii) substantial increase in allocation of funds on priority projects (iii) delegation of powers at field level (iv) close monitoring of progress of project at various levels (v) regular follow up with State Governments and concerned authorities for expeditious land acquisition, forestry and Wildlife clearances and for resolving other issues pertaining to projects.
Average annual Budget allocation in the Indian Railways for New Line, Gauge Conversion and Doubling works during 2014-19 has increased to `26,026 crore per year from `11,527 crore per year during 2009-14, which is 126% more than average annual budget outlay of 2009-14 and Revised Budget outlay of `40,757 crore was provided to these projects for financial year 2020-21 which is 254% more than average annual budget outlay of 2009-14. For financial year 2021-22, highest-ever budget outlay of `45,165 crore has been proposed for these works, which is 292% more with respect to average annual budget outlay of 2009-14.
During 2014-19, 13,124 km length (3035 km New Lines, 3,993 km Gauge Conversion and 6,096 km Doubling) has been commissioned which is 73% more than the commissioning during 2009-14 (7599 km). During 2019-20, 2,226 km length (360 km New Lines, 408 km Gauge Conversion and 1458 km Doubling) has been commissioned which is 46% more than average annual commissioning during 2009-14 (1,520 km/year).
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