Manual for Development Projects - Planning Commission

Chapter 4
General
- Inter-Agency Coordination
- Preparation of PC-I/Project Document
4.1 Until 1975, only one PC-I form remained in use for the projects of various sectors. Since then, 12
sectoral PC-I forms were in use. In 1995, the number of PC-I forms have been increased to 14. A
separate PC-I form for the small schemes, costing upto Rs 1.000 million, also exists. (Annexure-II).
The sectoral/sub-sectoral forms have been introduced with a view to have detailed information on each
aspect of the project. Inspite of this, project preparation has continued to suffer from the following
weaknesses:-
i) Inadequacy of data
ii) Unrealistic cost estimates
iii) Over-estimation of benefits
iv) Lack of coordination with the related agencies
v) Incorrect assumption of availability of inputs
vi) Lack of proper implementation schedule.
With a view to avoiding cost over-runs and repeated revisions of the scheme, it is extremely important that
information against the various columns of the PC-I is carefully provided. If a project is prepared with due
care and based on surveys, investigations and feasibility studies, the time taken in its examination (and also
execution) will be greatly reduced.
Linking Projects to Resources
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4.2 While preparing projects, the sponsoring agencies do not keep in view the resource availability in the
Plan. At present, a large number of projects are being prepared and approved irrespective of the Plan
provisions. Due to this, the available resources are being thinly spread over a larger number of projects,
including low priority projects. Because of this, priority projects, in particular aided projects, are not
implemented according to the prescribed time schedule. The inadequate provision of rupee funds arises out
of the budgetary constraints. The Planning Division conveys tentative sectoral allocations based on
resource availability to the Ministries/ Divisions well before the preparation of PSDP. However, the
Ministries/Divisions prepare their demands much in excess of the resource availability indicated to them.
This results in the distortion of priorities in resource allocation. The Ministries/Divisions etc., should
themselves determine their priorities, duly protecting aided projects within the resource availability
indicated to them. Moreover, in case a new priority of the Government is received, the agency concerned
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9/23/2010