New Delhi, Jun 27 (IANS): As many as 478 infrastructure projects reported a cost overrun of over Rs 4.40 lac crore as of June 1, 2021.

The Flash Report for central sector projects for May released by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation showed that 525 projects are running behind schedule.

Out of the 1,768 projects, 10 projects are ahead of schedule, 238 are on schedule, the report showed.

"Total original cost of implementation of the 1,768 projects was Rs 22,86,955.18 crore and their anticipated completion cost is likely to be Rs 27,27,220.47 crore, which reflects overall cost overruns of Rs 4,40,265.29 crore (19.25 per cent of original cost)," it said.

The expenditure incurred on these projects till May 2021 is over Rs 13.30 lakh crore, which is 48.79 per cent of the anticipated cost of the projects.

Out of 525 delayed projects, 100 (19.05 per cent) projects have overall delay in the range of 1 to 12 months, 124 (23.61 per cent) projects have a delay in the range of 13 to 24 months, 182 (34.67 per cent) projects have a delay in the range of 25 to 60 months and 119 (22.67 per cent) projects in a range of 61 months and above.

The report noted that the number of delayed projects, however, decreases to 387 if the delay is calculated on the basis of the latest schedule of completion. Further, for 995 projects neither the year of commissioning nor the tentative gestation period has been reported.