COST ESCALATION OF INFRASTRUCTURE
PROJECTS
RAJYA
SABHA
In respect of major
projects costing Rs. 100 crore and above in Roads, Railways and
Power Sectors, the percentage of cost escalation with respect
to the original approved cost are three, 54.5 and 35 respectively.
These projects have also been delayed.
The steps taken to
check the escalation of cost and complete the projects within
schedule are :
- Adoption of two-state clearance
system and stricter appraisal of project reports before investment
approval;
- taking up of projects for implementation
only after funds have been fully tied up;
- in-depth review of projects on
montly as well as quarterly basis by the Government;
- follow up with the State Governments
in respect of problems relating to acquisition of land, provision
of infrastructure facilities and ensuring law & order at
project sites, etc.;
- setting up of an Empowered Committee
in the administative Ministries for review of departmentally
executed projects;
- inter-ministerial coordination
for resolving unresolved problems;
- setting up of Standing Committees
in the Ministries/Departments to fix responsibility for time
and cost overruns;
- appointment of nodal officers
for each project with continuty of tensure; and
- issuse of guidelines on standard
bidding documents for adoption.
The Minister of State
for Statistics & Programme Implementation Shri S.B.Moorkherjee
gave this information in the Rajya Sabha today in a reply to a
question by Shri C. Ramachandraiah.
