'About 42% Big Infra Projects Behind Schedule'

New Delhi: About 42 per cent of big projects under the monitoring of the Statistics and Programme Implementation Ministry are running behind the schedule, while about 4 per cent of them have cost overrun, the government said on Thursday.

"As on December 1, 2014, a total of 731 projects were on the monitor of this ministry.

"As per latest project implementation schedule, out of 731 central sector projects, 306 projects were behind schedule and of these, 27 projects were with cost overruns," Minister of State for Statistics and Programme Implementation V K Singh said in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha.

The ministry monitors central government's infrastructure projects costing Rs 150 crore and above with regard to timeliness and cost overruns.

Steps such as on-line computerised monitoring system, setting up standing committees in ministries for fixation of responsibility for time and cost overruns, regular review of infrastructure projects by concerned ministries are among the steps taken to ensure timely and cost effective completion of projects, the minister informed.

Besides, Central Sector Projects Coordination Committees have been set up in states under the chief secretaries for removal of bottlenecks and for facilitating the speedy implementation of major projects.

The nine-month old BJP led NDA government has committed that funds are no constraint for infrastructure projects.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi earlier this month has pushed for quick resolution of inter-departmental and Centre-state issues to speed up the pace of implementation of infrastructure projects.