Northeast: 75% of DoNER Projects Face Time Overruns, 11 in Distress

Staff Reporter

GUWAHATI: The Northeast has reasons to worry, as about 75 per cent of ongoing DoNER-funded projects are experiencing time overruns, and the progress of 11 projects in the region is distressing.

The Ministry of Development of the North Eastern Region (DoNER) provides funds in the north-eastern states under various schemes. The states concerned and some central agencies implement the DoNER-funded projects on the ground.

As of July-end, 2026, the region had 973 ongoing projects. Significantly, delays have badly affected 722 of these projects. Among the delayed projects, the time overruns of as many as 314 projects are over three years and 1-3 years for 244 projects. The total approved amount of funds involved in the 722 delayed projects is Rs 13173.94 crore. The most delayed among the 722 projects are the 346 projects under the NEC scheme.       

The Ministry of Development of the North Eastern Region (DoNER) is the only ministry with territorial jurisdiction and functions to coordinate developmental efforts in the North Eastern Region (NER). The Ministry is also implementing various schemes for the development of the Northeast Region - the Northeast Special Infrastructure Development Scheme (Roads) (NESIDS (Roads)), the Northeast Special Infrastructure Development Scheme Other Than Road (NESIDS (OTRI)), Schemes of North Eastern Council (NEC), the PM-DevINE scheme and Special Development packages (SDP). DoNER fully funds all these schemes.

It's worth mentioning here that a total of 13 projects with a total sanctioned cost of Rs 152.92 crore were completed during July 2026, comprising eight projects under the Scheme of NEC, three projects under NESIDS-OTRI, and two projects under NESIDS-Roads. During the month, eight new projects with a total sanctioned cost of Rs 186.44 crore were approved, including one project under NESIDS-OTRI, two projects under NESIDS-Roads, four projects under Special Development Packages and one project under the Scheme of NEC. The Northeast has a total of 722 delayed projects worth Rs. 13173.94 crore, including those from central agencies. Scheme-wise distribution depicts that the scheme of NEC (346) has the maximum number of delayed projects, followed by NESIDS-OTRI (320), Special Packages (26), PM-DevINE (16) and NESIDS-Roads (14).

It is high time the central agencies and the states concerned did all to accelerate the delayed projects.

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