Projects worth over Rs 21.11 lakh cr stuck in red zones

A study by Projects Today unveiled that around 8,917 projects worth Rs 21.11 lakh crore are at a standstill in the 108 red zone districts, even as the government has relaxed lockdown norms. It also observed that on 25th March, when Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi first announced the lockdown, there were 17,372 projects entailing a total investment of Rs 56.51 lakh crore in various stages of implementation.

The study also noted that of these 8,917 projects, 7,998 projects (entailing an investment of over Rs 16.26 lakh crore) are in the infrastructure sector; while over 900 projects pertain to sectors like manufacturing, irrigation, power and mining.

Further, 62.9% of these 8,917 projects are owned by government agencies. “The private sector alone was executing 5,272 projects with a total outlay of more than Rs 7.83 lakh crore. Since it will take a while for the private sector to take up the halted projects, government agencies would have to take initiatives to kickstart their halted projects on a war footing basis,” it stated.

Taking into account the mass flight of migrant labour, the study noted “Therefore, apart from putting together the required number of labourers to restart the work post lockdown, finding replacements for the migrated labourer (of same skills) will be an uphill task.”