Our Bureau

New Delhi , Sept. 8

TWELVE Central sector projects costing Rs 100 crore have reported additional delay in June 2005, including the Mumbai High-Uran-Trunk pipeline project and the Namrup plant.

Five of these are Railway projects, three in the road transport sector, according to a Flash Report of the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation for the month.

The delays range between one and 17 months, over the completion dates stated in the previous month.

In the case of the petroleum sector, the Mumbai High-Uran-Trunk pipeline project has reported an additional delay of five months. Though the pipeline laying work has been completed and testing and modification is currently under progress, it is expected to be completed by October this year. The project has, however, not reported any cost over-run remaining as originally estimated at Rs 2,792.50 crore.

In the fertiliser sector, the Namrup plant revamp reported an additional delay of one month, though on the verge of completion. The project, originally estimated to cost Rs 350 crore with the date of commissioning being May 2001, is now anticipated to cost more than Rs 610 crore, a cost escalation of over 80 per cent and a time over-run of more than four years.

In the power sector, the Dhauliganga-Bareli transmission line project of PowerGrid and the Tarapur three and four transmission system also of PowerGrid, have reported a delay of one month each. The Dauli-Ganga project has reported a cost over-run of nearly Rs 50 crore and a time delay of over six months. There has been no cost escalation in the Tarapur transmission project, which is expected to be completed by September this year as originally scheduled. The delay was due to advancement in its date of commissioning.

In the case of Railways, the Patna-Ganga bridge new line reported a maximum delay of 17 months and is now expected to be completed by March 2009. This project has not reported any cost escalation with the original estimate being nearly Rs 625 crore, but overshot the date of commissioning by nearly a year-and-a-half. The Brahmaputra Bridge at Bogibeel in Assam, which has witnessed slippages of 11 months, is now expected to be completed in March 2009. The project of the North-Eastern Frontier Railway, originally estimated to cost Rs 1,000 crore, has registered a cost over-run of nearly 77 per cent, that is, the latest anticipated cost being Rs 1,767 crore. It was originally scheduled for completion by April 2008. The Deogarh-Dumka new BG line (doubling) of the Eastern Railway has reported a time over-run of 12 months with the latest completion date being March 2008, but without any cost over-run, with the original cost remaining the same at Rs 180.73 crore.

The Kottur-Harihar new line project of the South-Western Railway has been delayed by eight more months, with the latest date of commissioning being December this year. However, from the originally estimated cost at nearly Rs 66 crore, it is now anticipated to cost over Rs 122 crore representing an escalation of over 90 per cent.

The Nergundi-Cuttack-Raghunthpur project reported a delay of two months and is expected to be commissioned shortly. Though there has not been much time delay, a cost escalation of nearly Rs 55 crore has been registered. In the roads sector, the Palsit-Dankuni (NH-2) Golden Quadrilateral project is expected to be commissioned at any time, without any cost escalation, as originally estimated at Rs 432.40 crore. The Tuni-Dharmavaram (NH-5), which is also not reporting cost escalation and remains as originally estimated at nearly Rs 232 crore, has registered a time delay of one year.

The Himathagar-Chiloda (NH-8) also a Golden Quadrilateral project, has registered a time delay of nearly two years.

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