Land issues major hurdle for mega infra projects
As many as 22 of 65 infra projects each worth over Rs1,000 cr suffered time overruns because of land-related issues
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- 16 major projects held up due to forest land issues
- 6 projects stuck due to land acquisition problems
- Fund constraints holding up 11 projects
New Delhi: Land-related issues are found to be the biggest reasons for delays in infrastructure projects worth Rs1,000 crore or above. As many as 22 of the 65 such delayed projects or over one-third of the total, have suffered time overruns because of such issues, official sources told Bizz Buzz.
While 16 major projects are held up because of forest land issues, six are stuck because of problems in land acquisition, they said. Fund constraints are another reason for delays, holding 11 projects.
Red tape has also caused time overruns in a dozen big projects. While delays in government clearance have affected five projects, awarding contracts has delayed four and delay in civil works three. Delay in supply of equipment has hurt two projects.
In general, law and order problems, including encroachments, often delay big and small infrastructure projects.
Sometimes, geological conditions are not as anticipated. It might appear strange against the backdrop of massive joblessness but there have been instances when employees could not be found.
The Covid pandemic and the lockdowns it occasioned have also adversely affected infrastructure projects. Litigations also cast their shadow on projects. Sometimes the scope of projects is changed, leading to both time and cost overruns.
Then there are delayed projects and the ones suffering cost overruns. Centre suspects that there is underreporting in the figures in many cases, in both time and cost overruns. The administrative ministries concerned are likely to review these projects, officials said.
As Bizz Buzz reported earlier, out of the 1,568 Central infrastructure projects costing 150 crore and above, 721 projects were delayed, and 108 projects reported additional delays in May. While eight projects were ahead of the schedule, 270 were on schedule.
The total original cost of implementation of the 1,568 projects was Rs 2,159,802.67 crore. Now, their completion cost is anticipated to be Rs 2,654,818.05 crore, which means the cost overruns of Rs 495,015.38 crore or about 23 per cent of the original cost.
Infrastructure is one of the areas Prime Minister Narendra Modi is focused on. He regularly instructs the stakeholders regarding delays and cost escalations. He has been interacting with the Chief Secretaries of states and UTs and Secretaries of the Ministries and Departments concerned through video conferences.
