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NEW DELHI, Sept. 9

THE Minister of State for Statistics & Programme Implementation and the Prime Minister's Office (PMO), Mr Vijay Goel, has announced that timely completion of projects would be the top-most priority of the Government.

Responsibility and accountability are to be fixed at an appropriate level for any delay caused while incentives are to be provided for completion of projects before schedule.

At a press conference here on Monday, Mr Goel said that he would be undertaking a tour of Gujarat, Maharashtra and Chennai to inspect projects related to the Ministries of Surface Transport, Petroleum & Natural Gas and the Railways to avert long-time overruns and ensure their timely completion.

In all, there are 455 identified projects, each involving an investment of Rs 20 crore or more, spanning 16 Ministries, which together account for an overall cost of Rs 2,24,075 crore. Of these, six projects are ahead of schedule, 147 projects are on schedule while 151 projects are delayed. Out of the delayed projects, there are about 71 projects that are in the advanced stages of completion but are held up on account of minor problems.

The Minister noted that during 2001, a total of 96 projects were completed at a cost of about Rs 20,000 crore while nearly 400 more projects are likely to be completed by the close of 2008.

Dwelling on the primary reasons for delays in the execution of projects, Mr Goel disclosed that some of the major causes were constraints in funding, delay in land acquisition and award of contracts, lack of latest management techniques and law and order problems.

For smooth monitoring and early completion of projects, he said there were certain measures that he intended to take. These include the release of a `Standard contract management system', tabling of a Bill for approval in Parliament to carry out modifications in the Land Acquisition Act and provide a standard rehabilitation package.

Apart from these, Mr Goel said that he would also convene inter-ministerial coordination meetings at regular intervals to resolve problems between ministries and focus attention of the 28 major projects, which contribute to nearly 93 per cent of the overall cost overrun in all the projects.

Some of the projects that are in an advanced stage of execution, the Minister said, would be taken up at his level so as to remove the critical roadblocks, if any. While independent agencies would be associated and site visits encouraged for undertaking review of projects, the chief executives of mega projects would also be invited at regular intervals to ensure timely completion through discussions over problems that require inter-Ministerial coordination, Mr Goel said.

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