Lok Sabha Question No. 2757 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2019-07-10
Subject: Delay in Completion of Railway Projects
Ministry: RAILWAYS
Asked by: M.K. Vishnu Prasad

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2757 TO BE ANSWERED ON 10.07.2019

## DELAY IN COMPLETION OF RAILWAY PROJECTS

## 2757.  DR. M.K. VISHNU PRASAD:

Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state:

- (a) whether there is increasing cost of projects due to delay in timely completion of railway projects;
- (b) if  so,  the  number of  projects  that  had  slipped  the  schedule during the last two years and its cost escalation, project-wise; and
- (c) whether  any  monitoring  committee  has  been  constituted  to  take corrective measures and to expedite the completion of projects by removing the hurdles, if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF RAILWAYS AND COMMERCE & INDUSTRY

## (SHRI PIYUSH GOYAL)

(a)  to  (c):  At  present  491  Railway projects including 189 New Lines, 55 Gauge Conversion  and  247  Doubling  Projects  are  in  different  stages  of execution/planning/sanction.

The  total  length  of  these  projects  is  48860.64  km  costing ` 6.476 Lakh Crore on which Commissioning of 9113 km length and expenditure of ` 1.43 Lakh Crore has been done up to March, 2019.

During 2009-14, 7599 Km (1727 Km of New Line, 3997 Km of Gauge Conversion and 1875 Km of Doubling projects) have been commissioned at an average rate of 1519.8 Km per year. Since 2014-19, 13124 Km (3035 Km of New Line, 3993 Km of Gauge Conversion and 6096 Km of  Doubling

Projects)  have  been  commissioned  at  an  average  rate  of  2625  Km  per year, which is 172% of commissioning during 2009-14.

The timely  completion  of  any  Railway  project  depends  on  various factors like quick land acquisition by State Government, forest clearance by  officials  of  forest  department,  shifting  of  infringing  utilities  (both underground & over ground), statutory clearances from various authorities,  geological  &  topographical  conditions  of  area,  law  &  order situation in the area of project site, number of working months in a year for particular project site due to climatic considerations, cooperation and zeal  of  State  Government  for  early  completion  of  project,  encountering unforeseen conditions like earthquake, flooding, excessive rains, strikes of labour, orders of Hon'ble Courts, situation and conditions  of working agencies/contractors  etc.  and  all  these  factors  affects  the  completion cost of the project, which is finally worked out at the completion stage.

In the overall interest of the Nation and to ensure that project are completed  in  time  without  cost  overrun,  lot  of  monitoring  is  done  in Railways  at  various  level  (field  level,  divisional  level,  zonal  level  and Board  level)  and  regular  meetings  are  held  with  the  officials  of  State Government  and  concerned  authorities  to  resolve  the  pending  issues obstructing the progress of projects.

To  ensure  that  projects  are  completed  even  before  time,  Railway has adopted the concept of incentives to the contractor in the form of bonus  clause  in  contracts  which  will  further  enhance  the  pace  of execution of projects.

For  important  projects,  capacity  enhancement  projects,  last  mile connectivity etc. institutional financing has been done by arranging loan of ` 1.5 lakh crore, which has increased Railways' capacity for committed fund provision for essential projects.

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