BHUBANESWAR: Even as the Odisha government has been prioritising infrastructure development across sectors, at least six major externally-aided projects (EAPs) are running behind schedule.
Sources said only 15 per cent of the budget allocated for these projects has been spent in the first half of the fiscal. Against a budgetary provision of Rs 1,798 crore for 2025-26, around Rs 269 crore has been spent in last six months.
While six EAPs have been closed and as many are ongoing, five more projects are in the pipeline under various multilateral and bilateral funding agencies. Although additional central assistance of Rs 298 crore has been received up to September including arrears from previous years, the overall pace of project implementation remained far from satisfactory, sources said.
Among the ongoing projects under scrutiny are Dam Rehabilitation and Improvement Project (DRIP) phase-II, left bank canal phase-II of Rengali Irrigation Project (RIP), Odisha Integrated Irrigation Project for Climate Resilient Agriculture (OIIPCRA), Rejuvenating Watersheds for Agriculture Resilience through Innovative Development (Reward) programme and Odisha Forestry Sector Development Project (OFSDP) phase-II.
The DRIP phase-II, supported by the World Bank, will end in December 2027. The state has so far incurred an expenditure of Rs 37.61 crore under the project against the project outlay of Rs 100 crore. Officials acknowledged that the work has been substantially delayed due to stringent pre-qualification criteria fixed by the World Bank, which many local bidders are unable to meet.
The issue was flagged at a recent high-level meeting chaired by principal secretary of Finance department Sanjeeb Mishra. After discussion, the Water Resources department, the implementing agency, has been asked to take up the issue of relaxed eligibility norms with the Central Water Commission, Department of Economic Affairs (DEA) and the Union ministry concerned to enable participation of local contractors in small packages.
In OIIPCRA, also funded by the World Bank, only Rs 814.53 crore has been spent against the project outlay of Rs 1,572.17 crore. Citing very low expenditure rate as the project ends this December, Mishra has asked the department to expedite the expenditure. The state government has also requested a two-year extension and restructuring of the project.