Lok Sabha Question No. 688 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2022-02-04
Subject: Construction Work in DRDO Projects
Ministry: DEFENCE
Asked by: Chandra Sekhar Sahu, Rahul Ramesh Shewale, Pritam Gopinath Munde, Girish Bhalchandra Bapat

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF DEFENCE DEFENCE RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT ORGANISATION

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 688

TO BE ANSWERED ON 04 TH  FEBRUARY, 2022

## CONSTRUCTION WORK IN DRDO PROJECTS

688. SHRI CHANDRA SEKHAR SAHU: SHRI RAHUL RAMESH SHEWALE: DR. PRITAM GOPINATHRAO MUNDE: SHRI GIRISH BHALCHANDRA BAPAT:

Will the Minister of DEFENCE be pleased to state:

- (a)  whether  around  58  percent  of  the  total  construction  work  in  the  Defence  Research  and Development Organisation (DRDO) projects was not completed within the original schedule;
- (b) if so, the details thereof and the response of the Government thereon;
- (c) the details of the DRDO projects which are running behind their original schedule;
- (d) the details of cost escalation of various projects due to such delay; and
- (e)  the  steps  taken  by  the  Government  to  complete  these  projects  without  further  delay  and escalated cost?

## A  N  S  W  E  R

MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF DEFENCE

(SHRI AJAY BHATT)

- (a)  No, Sir. Considering overall work, about 74% of the works have been completed within 3 months of the contract completion date and additional 18% works within 03 months to 01 year from the contract completion date. Rest about 8% of works completed beyond 01 year from the contract completion date.
- (b)    DRDO  works  include  construction  works  for  various  laboratories, establishments  and units as well as strategic works. The Strategic works are of specialized in nature. Due to these nature of works, major reasons for delays are:

 Most of the works are located in highly restricted areas i.e., inside the laboratories and  in  the  premises  of  existing  Strategic  sites,  where  restrictions  on  movement  of manpower and material have been imposed due to the unavoidable security reasons.

 Certain Projects which are located in the remote areas have been affected by the local prevailing situations.

 Mid-term revision in Qualitative requirements and additional technical requirements from Services were projected during the currency of the work to meet the functional requirements of the facility.

 Due to Covid-19 Pandemic.

 Other  major  issues  contributed  to  delay  in  completion  of  work  are  lack  of  timely availability  of  construction  material  like  aggregates,  cement,  steel,  bricks  etc.,  during the  currency  of  work,  unavailability  of  skilled  manpower  during  the  festive  seasons have also affected the work.

However, it is highlighted that midcourse corrections were undertaken on case to case basis in respect of the works and all the works have been completed without any financial escalation.

(c)  Presently, all DRDO projects are on schedule, duly considering force majeure for work affected by Covid-19 Pandemic.

(d)    There  has  been  no  cost  escalation  due  to  delay  in  the  work.  Changes  and  additional requirements have been paid as per actual.

(e)  The remedial measures taken to complete the works in time are furnished below:

-  Periodic reviews of the Works were conducted and bottle necks identified. Additional resources such as manpower, materials and paint & machinery were deployed to make up for delays.

 Users were approached and numerous meeting/ discussions were held with them for timely finalization of the changes/ additional works projected in order to complete the work at the earliest.

 Works  with  justified  reasons  were  granted  extension  of  time  based  on  the  merit  of each case.

*****