75 CSI projects worth Rs 1.22 Lakh crore implemented in AP: Inderjit Singh

Nellore: There are 75 Central Sector Infrastructure Projects each costing over Rs 150 crore and above being implemented in Andhra Pradesh, informed Minister of State (independent charge) of Ministry of Planning and Minister of State in the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Rao Inderjit Singh while answering a question from the member Vemireddy Prabhakar Reddy in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday.

He said the original cost of these 75 projects was Rs 1.22 lakh crore and the anticipated cost is Rs 1.69 lakh crore. Reacting to another question of Prabhakar Reddy over reasons for the escalation of project costs, the minister said the reasons for time and cost overruns were project-specific and depends on a variety of technical, financial and administrative factors and differ from project to project.

The other reasons are spiraling land acquisition costs, shortage of skilled manpower/ labour; changes in project scope; monopolistic pricing by vendors of equipment services; general price rise/inflation and time overruns.

The Minister said the delay in timely completion of the projects, law and order problems, delay in land acquisition, delay in environment and forest clearances, funding constraints, rehabilitation, and resettlement issues also escalate project costs.