New Delhi: The cost of 458 infrastructure projects worth Rs 150 crore or more has escalated by over Rs 5.71 lakh crore from estimates till May this year due to delays and other reasons, a report said.

The Ministry of Statistics and Program Implementation monitors infrastructure projects costing Rs 150 crore or more. The ministry's May 2024 report said that out of 1,817 such projects, 458 have seen cost overruns, while 831 other projects are running late.

According to the report, the original cost of implementation of these 1,817 projects was Rs 27,58,567.23 crore but now it is estimated to increase to Rs 33,29,647.99 crore. This shows that the cost of these projects has increased by 20.70 percent i.e. Rs 5,71,080.76 crore.

According to the report, till May 2024, Rs 17,07,190.15 crore has been spent on these projects, which is 51.3 percent of the total estimated cost. However, the ministry has said that if the projects are seen as per the latest deadline for completion, the number of delayed projects will come down to 554.

The report said that out of the 831 delayed projects, 245 projects are delayed by one month to 12 months, 188 projects are delayed by 13 to 24 months, 271 projects are delayed by 25 to 60 months and 127 projects are delayed by more than 60 months. The average delay in these 831 projects is 35.1 months.