Data | Nearly one-third of the central sector infrastructure projects were running behind schedule at the end of the first quarter of FY22

As many as 480 out of 1,779 Central sector infrastructure projects, each worth ₹150 crore or more, had exceeded their original cost of implementation at the end of the April-June quarter of FY22, according MOSPI’s latest quarterly report. A total of 559 such projects were running behind schedule. While the share of projects with time overruns is declining, the share of projects with cost overruns remains relatively high. Projects approved in the Water Resources, Telecommunications, and Railways sector have overshot their original costs by the maximum share, while all the projects in five sectors, including Telecommunications, Defence, and Atomic Energy, are running behind schedule.

Time and cost overruns

The chart shows the cost overruns as a % of the original estimates of 1,779 central sector projects which cost more than ₹150 crore at the end of the first quarter (April-June) of FY22. It also depicts the % of such projects that were running behind schedule at the end of the quarter. Nearly one-third of infrastructure projects were delayed and the overall original cost estimation of those projects had been overrun by 19%.

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Sector-wise split

The chart plots the sector-wise cost overruns as a % of original estimates against the % of projects with time overruns at the end of Q1FY22. For instance, Railway infrastructure projects exceeded their original cost by 52% with 47% of projects getting delayed. While the original cost of all projects was ₹22.87 lakh crore, the anticipated cost stood at ₹27.33 lakh crore which is a cost overrun of 19.5%. Of the 1,779 projects, 31% (559) were delayed. The sectors in the deepest shaded region saw both higher-than-average cost overruns and time overruns as of the April-June quarter of FY22.

Project-wise comparison

The charts plot the 150 projects which incurred cost overruns of more than ₹100 crore and were delayed by six or more months at the end of Q1FY22. The Polavaram Irrigation Project in Andhra Pradesh exceeded its anticipated cost by over ₹45,000 crore (five times higher than the original cost), the highest among all. Among the 10 projects with the highest cost overruns, the Railways and Power sectors accounted for three each, while the Water Resources, Steel, Urban Development and Telecommunications sectors accounted for one each. The 10 projects which had maximum time overruns were all part of the Railways sector.

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Source: Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation