Kohima: The Nagaland government has spent over Rs 1,300 crore on 416 projects which are incomplete for almost 20 years, a Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report said.
This was revealed in the State Finances Audit Report by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India for the year ended March 31, 2021, which was tabled by Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio in the just concluded Nagaland Legislative Assembly session.
There were 416 projects lying incomplete/ongoing as on March 31, 2021 for which Rs 1,380.04 crore had been spent by 36 Departments since the year 2003, the CAG report said.
The age profile of incomplete projects based on the year of sanction/year of start of these projects ranges from 2003, it said.
The CAG report revealed that from 2003-11, there were 63 incomplete projects for which Rs 722.61 crore has been spent with cost over-run amounting to Rs 156.61 crore as on March 31, 2021.
In 2011-12, an amount of Rs 67.96 crore was spent for 19 incomplete projects while in 2012-13, Rs 132.86 crore has been spent for 39 ongoing projects with cost over-run of Rs 25.84 crore.
Further, 2013-14: 134 projects (Rs 53.55 crore), 2014-15: 59 projects (Rs 23.98 crore), 2015-16: 21 projects (Rs 96.18 crore), 2016-17: 10 projects (Rs 11.98 crore), 2017-18: 34 projects (Rs 67.48 crore), 2018-19: 9 projects (Rs 42.78 crore), 2019-20: 4 projects (Rs 5.28 crore), the report said.
While for 2020-21 there were no such incomplete projects, the CAG report, however, said that a total of 24 incomplete/going projects on which Rs 155.38 crore was spent does not have information about the year of commencement.
The report stated that of the 36 defaulting departments, the major defaulting departments were PWD (Roads & Bridges) Rs 258.85 crore against 15 projects; PWD (Housing) Rs 235.56 crore against 35 projects, Police Engineering Project Rs 177.75 crore for 48 projects; Urban Development Rs 96.77 crore for 26 projects; Geology & Mining Rs 48.95 crore for 4 projects; Veterinary and Animal Husbandry Rs 19.3 crore for 62 projects; Civil Administration Works Rs 15.33 for 47 projects while other 29 (names not specified) had spent Rs 527.53 crore against 179 incomplete works.
The report said that analysis of the 416 incomplete projects revealed that in 63 projects, target year of completion was not furnished by the Departments till the end of audit period.
Of these 416 projects, works in respect of two projects (estimated cost Rs 10.93 crore) had been suspended during 2014-15 after incurring an expenditure of Rs 10.46 crore (95.70 per cent of estimated cost).
In 358 projects, there was no financial progress during 2020-21, it said, adding that there was 100 per cent financial achievement in six projects but 100 per cent physical progress was not achieved while in one project physical progress was nil.
There was no physical progress, despite expenditure of Rs 30.37 crore (16.04 per cent of the estimated/revised cost of 189.39 crore) incurred on 19 projects up to March 2021, it said.
Project cost in respect of 18 incomplete projects was revised from Rs 271.46 crore to Rs 454.82 crore, it said.
It said that the Capital Expenditure of Rs 1,380.04 crore incurred on these 416 incompletes remained blocked.
The CAG report said that blocking of funds on incomplete projects/works impinges negatively on the quality of expenditure and deprives the state of the intended benefits for prolonged periods.
Further, delay in completion of the projects was fraught with the risk of cost overrun, which was evident in 63 projects which were pending since 2003-11, it said.
Therefore, the CAG recommended that effective steps need to be taken to complete all these projects without further delay to avoid time and cost inefficiencies.
Follow on Twitter | Posted by Mansoor Hameed | 
