Study of Time and Cost Overruns in Central Public Works Department (CPWD)

DOI

10.2991/978-94-6463-936-0_10How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Public Works; India; CPWD; Time; Cost Overrun

Abstract

With the passage of time and with the latest technologies available in the field of construction at present, the time and cost over runs are to be decreased in public infrastructure projects in India, but the trend is increasing. Very few studies were conducted on the Indian public projects. A comparative analysis has been conducted to identify the key factors responsible for this increasing trend in time and cost overruns. The key factor emerged from this study is that there is a lacuna in identification of reasons itself for time and cost overruns in public works in India. This study helps the industry and the academia to conduct further studies to improve project management strategies, to identify all the possible reasons for time and cost overruns and to develop mitigative strategies for the best utilization of the public funds in India. The time and cost overruns in Central Public Works Department for the years 2016-17 and 2017-18 has been studied where % of the projects with time overrun is ranging from 73% for small projects to 100% in large projects, % of projects with cost overrun is 48% in small projects, with 50% in large projects. While common reasons for time overruns across all the cost categories are lack of funds, rainfall, client related delays like slow decisions, delays in approvals, site selection, handing over of site, revisions of drawings which needs to be addressed. The relation between time and cost overruns was also established which is linear. This study underscores the urgent need for systemic reforms in project planning and execution to reduce delays, optimize resource allocation, and enhance public infrastructure efficiency. Future research should explore mitigation strategies and the role of emerging technologies, such as AI and blockchain, in improving project management in public works.

Copyright

© 2025 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Pramod Papolu
AU  - Ramesh Srikonda
AU  - Kranti Kumar Myneni
AU  - Faiz Ahmed Chundeli
PY  - 2025
DA  - 2025/12/29
TI  - Study of Time and Cost Overruns in Central Public Works Department (CPWD)
BT  - Proceedings of the International Conference on Civil Engineering and Architecture for Sustainable Infrastructure Development and Environment (CEASIDE 2025)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 122
EP  - 139
SN  - 3005-155X
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-94-6463-936-0_10
DO  - 10.2991/978-94-6463-936-0_10
ID  - Papolu2025
ER  -