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Recently, the Prime Minister of India, Shri Narendra Modi raised concern over delay in infrastructure projects and thereby he sought an elaborate exercise to identify decisions of various courts and National Green Tribunal (NGT), along with a list of all such delayed projects and the loss incurred to the exchequer.

The Prime Minister in a review meeting held on August 25, demanded a list of infrastructure projects delayed due to orders of various courts and the National Green Tribunal (NGT) from the Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba and further asked him to lead this extensive exercise with the relevant ministries.

Four ministries have been asked to coordinate the exercise and also list the loss incurred to the exchequer due to the delay.

Although, it is not clear yet as to what the government plans to do once the exercise is complete but the top-level intervention by PM and involvement of the Law Ministry in the same suggests a coordinated legal approach could be followed to clear impediments in a superabundance of such infrastructure projects.

In the meeting, PM stated that, “Ministries of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Railways and Road Transport & Highways in consultation with Ministry of Law and Justice should identify decisions of Hon’ble Courts, NGT etc., related to land acquisition, forest or other clearances etc. which are causing delay in infrastructure projects. Cabinet Secretary should monitor such exercise. A list of delayed projects due to such court decisions and orders, including loss incurred to the exchequer may also be prepared and complied by the Cabinet Secretary.”

The PM further asked the Cabinet Secretary to prepare a list within a week of projects delayed due to various government authorities and officials and identify them.

“Cabinet Secretary should prepare a list of projects which are delayed substantially and identify responsible authorities, agencies or officials for such delay. The list may be submitted within a week,” the minutes of the meeting add.

Subsequently, a press statement was issued after the meeting on August 25 by the Prime Minister’s Office which mentioned in one line that, “The Prime Minister stressed on the significance of timely completion” of eight projects that were reviewed that day.

DELAYED PROJECTS – A MAJOR CONCERN

The report also suggests that the Prime Minister was displeased over the delay in the prestigious Western Dedicated Freight Corridor and and targets were fixed for Maharashtra and Gujarat governments to complete the project.

The PM on August 25 also asked the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways to begin work on Delhi’s Urban Extension Road by September 15, 2021.

“The Ministry should start the work in ‘Mission Mode’ and complete the project before 15 August, 2023 in light of Amrut Mahotsava (75 years of Independence),” the PM directed, as per the minutes.

Stressing on adopting a different approach to cut losses incurred due to delay in projects, the Prime Minister in February, 2021 had asked the cabinet secretary to prepare a methodology to operationalize infrastructure projects in phases as and when ready,rather than waiting for the completion of the entire work.

The PM then said all infrastructure projects “should be redesigned to adopt a pragmatic and a commercial approach”.

Modi had earlier also asked for regular reports on long-delayed projects to be sent to PMO and such projects be expedited by the states.

According to News reports, The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation which monitors infrastructure projects worth Rs 150 crore and above had in July 2021 reported that out of the 1,781 such projects, 483 reported cost overruns and 504 were delayed.