Delays & cancellations in government-sanctioned textile parks in 2005: CAG report

 30 March 2023, Mumbai 

The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India has revealed in a report that out of the 98 integrated textile parks sanctioned by the government since 2005, only 26 have been completed.

The report disclosed that 30 parks are still under construction while 42 have been cancelled. The government released grants totaling Rs 1,593 crore for these 98 parks, of which Rs 688.03 crore were released for parks that still haven’t been completed or were cancelled.

The parks were envisaged as attractive destinations for investment and job creation, but they have fallen well short of all their targets. The report highlighted that delays in obtaining statutory clearances, issues related to land allotment for the parks, and weak financial strength of the Special Purpose Vehicles created for the parks were the major reasons for delay in their completion.

According to the report, during the 10th Plan period (2005-07), it was envisaged to complete 25 parks in around 18 months. The scheduled time for completion for parks sanctioned during the 11th Plan period (2007-12) was kept as 24 months from the first release of grants by the Government of India. Further, during the 12th Plan period (2012-17), the completion period for the parks was estimated to be three years.

Of the 30 parks where work is ongoing, five were commissioned between 2005 and 2007, which means they are at least 25 years past their deadlines. Ten of the currently-ongoing projects were sanctioned during the 11th Plan, putting them about nine years past their deadlines. By this calculation, the 15 ongoing projects sanctioned in the 12th Plan are at least three years overdue.

As a result of the delays and the cancellations of projects, the various targets set for the projects in terms of employment generation, investments, and the setting up of textile units all remained unmet by a substantial degree.

The CAG said that even after a lapse of 16 years from the inception of the Scheme, the actual achievement of the 56 completed/ongoing parks (audited by the CAG) was only 30 per cent in terms of employment generation, 50 per cent in terms of investments and 37 per cent in terms of setting-up of textile units, as against the targets set in the detailed project reports of the parks.

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