PWD lapses put Delhi projects worth over Rs 500 cr at risk of delays

Several major Delhi Government projects, worth more than Rs 500 crore, may be losing an important opportunity for Central intervention due to gaps in information uploaded by the Public Works Department (PWD) on the Delhi Project Monitoring Group (D-PMG) portal.

The issue centres on the department's handling of information about large construction projects. The D-PMG portal is meant to provide details of projects worth Rs 500 crore and above so that issues affecting their progress can be brought to the notice of the Central government and addressed at its level.

However, the PWD officials attended less than 40 per cent of the last two training sessions organised for using the portal. Officials are now understood to have been making mistakes while entering project details, with incomplete or incorrect information being uploaded in some cases.

The result is significant because if information about an under-construction project is not properly recorded on the portal, the Central government may not get a complete picture of the problems holding it up. This can limit the scope for Central intervention in resolving such issues.

The department has now decided to conduct another training session to prevent further errors. The Central PMG team will conduct the training on August 24, and the PWD has directed the officials concerned to attend it compulsorily.

The lapse comes against the backdrop of several high-value PWD projects in Delhi that are either under construction, facing financial constraints or yet to begin despite approvals.

The new 22 storey block at Lok Nayak Hospital, for instance, had an original cost of Rs 533.91 crore, which has now risen to Rs 1,268.85 crore. The work on the project has been on since 2021.

The Barapullah Phase III elevated corridor has a revised budget of Rs 1,635 crore, with work continuing since 2015. The ICU hospital complex at Raghubir Nagar has also seen its cost rise to around Rs 531.58 crore since work began in 2021.

Another major project is the expansion of GTB Hospital, where the estimated cost is around Rs 500 crore. The plan is to increase the hospital's capacity from 881 beds to 1,912 beds. The project was approved in September 2021.

The proposed new district court complex in Rohini Sector 26 has an estimated cost of Rs 663 crore. At Dwarka's Indira Gandhi Hospital, the proposed medical college has a cost of more than Rs 800 crore, but work has not started even after several years and the project is awaiting budget allocation.

The Delhi Sports University at Ghevrā presents another challenge. Its budget has risen nearly threefold to around Rs 3,000 crore, but the project has still not reached the ground. Apart from the budget, green trees falling within the project area are also described as a major hurdle.

With projects of such scale involved, the PWD's decision to make the August 24 training compulsory is aimed at ensuring that the portal carries complete and accurate information. For Delhi's large construction projects, the issue is, therefore, not only about uploading data, but also about whether the problems recorded on the portal reach the level where they can receive Central attention.