The Hindu : New Delhi News : Seven mega projects abroad behind schedule

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Wednesday, Nov 21, 2007
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New Delhi

Seven mega projects abroad behind schedule

Sandeep Dikshit

218-km long Zaranj-Delaram road project in Afghanistan worst-hit
Increase in input prices, security and new requests causing delay

NEW DELHI: At least seven of the 11 mega projects being executed by India in the neighbouring countries were suffering from cost and time overruns, forcing the government to expedite the process of setting up an India Development Cooperation Agency to exercise close supervision, said official sources.

The worst-hit was the Zaranj-Delaram road project in Afghanistan, which was delayed by a year.

Its cost had almost doubled from Rs. 377 crore to Rs. 746.5 crore, in part because the government underestimated the security problem.

The 218-km road would connect a place near the country’s border with Iran to Afghanistan’s ring road, which connects most of the major towns of Afghanistan and as well provides access to some Central Asian countries.

The sources said India was negotiating with Iran for getting access to its Chabar port. From there, it planned to build a railway line near the Afghanistan border.

As compared to access through Iran’s Bandar-Abbas port, the new route would halve the time taken for goods to reach Afghanistan.

Besides, India would also get faster access to Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Ukraine.

Indiaplanned to depend on local security but nearly 10 attacks on the Border Roads Organisation personnel forced it to increase the strength of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police from 38 to 388. Erratic supplies and price fluctuations had also hit the project.

The road was expected to become operational by December next year, a full year behind schedule.

Dam project

The cost of building the Salma Dam in the Heart province of Afghanistan too had risen by nearly Rs. 150 crore. Here too, a sharp increase in the cost of major inputs, price fluctuations, erratic supplies and security problems contributed to the nearly 50 per cent increase in the project cost.

The third major project in Afghanistan — the Parliament Building project in Kabul — had also seen a rise in cost even before the project has got off. But the major factor here was a request by the Afghan government for additional facilities.

In Bhutan, the setting up of Tintibi-Tongsa and Yurmoo-Bumthang transmission lines was expected to cost nearly double the original estimate of Rs. 34 crore.

The construction of the Supreme Court in Thimphu has also gone up from Rs. 12.6 to Rs. 31.58 crore, with the main factor being a request for additional facilities.

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