Infrastructure project delay worries Centre

With crucial infrastructure projects hit by slow pace of work, programme implementation and statistics minister Sriprakash Jaiswal wants action against officials responsible for the delay.

Updated on: Nov 26, 2010, 01:24:03 IST

Hindustan Times | By Chetan Chauhan, New Delhi

Prefer HTon Google

Share via

Copy link

With crucial infrastructure projects hit by slow pace of work, programme implementation and statistics minister Sriprakash Jaiswal wants action against officials responsible for the delay.

As per the ministry's estimate, there had been an increase of up to 38% in the cost of more than 82 major projects because of delays.

"If there has been delay because of affordable reason, disciplinary action should be taken," Jaiswal said.

His ministry monitors all infrastructure projects undertaken by central government agencies, costing more than Rs150 crore.

Of the total 404, whose progress was reported online, delays have been reported in 82 projects, which is about 20%. "There have been slippages in the range of one to 24 months in projects relating to atomic energy, coal, steel, petroleum, power, railways and road transport sector," a ministry report submitted to cabinet secretary KM Chandrasekhar, said.

As per the list provided, the worst has been the road transport and highways sector. Forty of the 122 projects whose progress reports were received reported additional delays. The prime reasons given are delay in the environment ministry's forest clearance, delay in land acquisition, slow progress of work by the contractor, inclement weather conditions and termination of the contract because of poor performance. "In some cases the ministry had been slow in getting the project take off despite clearances," an official said.

Another sector that had come under critical scrutiny of the ministry is petroleum, where 32% of the projects reported additional delays.

The main reason has been problems with Oil and Natural Gas Corporation of India's projects in Hazira and Mumbai. "Development of a new C-Series oil field near Mumbai got a huge blow due to sinking of a jacket in the sea during transportation. The delay reported is of five months," the report said.

The crucial transport sector had shown delays with cost overrun of more than 50 per cent. Railways had problems in in land acquisition and delay by contractors, whereas Bangalore Metro Rail reported delay of more than nine months because of unspecified reasons. Non-availability of fuel has caused a delay of two months in commissioning of two units at the Kaiga nuclear plant.

Jaiswal said the ministry officials have been asked to enforce high performance parameters for the infrastructure projects to ensure that the deadlines are met and cost overruns are minimised.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Chetan Chauhan
Chetan Chauhan is the National Affairs Editor looking into all aspects of news and features from across India. A Chevening scholar with over three decades of experience in reporting and news management, Chetan has extensively covered all important aspects of the social sector, political economy, environment and climate change nationally and internationally. He did a journalism course at the Reuters Institute of Journalism in Oxford and Digital Media training at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. He started as a reporter with The Statesman in 1996 and joined the Hindustan Times in 2000 in the metro bureau covering environment, crime and Delhi politics. He covered hot local news, from the Jessica Lal murder case to the rebellion of Delhi Congress MLAs against then Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, to the replacement of toxic vehicle fuel with cleaner compressed natural gas (CNG) in the national capital. Some of his stories on air pollution became part of the Supreme Court’s landmark MC Mehta versus Government of India case in the National Capital Region (NCR), forcing the government to take corrective measures. As part of the national political bureau since 2004, he covered important central sectors such as environment, education, social justice, labour, rural development, water resources, renewable energy, agriculture, broadcasting and the Planning Commission for more than a decade producing several exclusive and investigative breaking stories. His specialisation is the environment, having covered at least a dozen United Nations global conferences on climate change, biodiversity and wildlife including climate summits in Paris, Copenhagen and Bali. He also covered India’s two five-year plans ---11th and 12th and reported on drafting and execution of right based laws such as Right to Education, Right to Information and rural job guarantee law, MG-NREGA, now being introduced in new format as VG-RAM-G Act. He has in-depth knowledge of social sector issues. He was one of the first to report on tigers vanishing from Sariska and Panna wildlife reserves in 2004 and 2008, respectively, leading to the setting up of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and the introduction of stringent penal provisions for poaching. He has written extensively on the rising human-animal conflict in India and the degradation of India’s biodiversity hotspots because of mining and other activities. Since 2004, Chetan has covered Parliament comprehensively and participated in training on the nuanced coverage of Parliament proceedings. He has travelled extensively across India to cover national and provincial elections since 1998, especially in the Hindi heartland states, considered India’s road to power. He writes a regular column for Hindustan Times, Ecostani, on important national politics, economy, Himalayan ecology and environmental issues. His other responsibilities include providing inputs for edits and edit page articles for the publication, apart from managing news flow from across India.Read More

Catch every big hit, every wicket with Crickit, a one stop destination for Live Scores, Match Stats, Infographics & much more. Explore now!

Stay updated with all top Cities including, Bengaluru, Delhi, Mumbai and more across India. Stay informed on the latest happenings in World News along with Delhi Election 2025 and Delhi Election Result 2025 Live, New Delhi Election Result Live, Kalkaji Election Result Live at Hindustan Times.