Finance minister P Chidambaram said that the government was concerned over time and cost overrun in projects and will introduce mechanisms to expedite execution of projects within a few weeks.

Chidambaram was referring to the delay in the execution of projects like the Posco steel plant in Orissa, airport infrastructure in Delhi and Hyderabad and Delhi Metro, while addressing FICCI's AGM in New Delhi today.

The minister said these projects have to be implemented in time irrespective of the fact whether they are in private sector, public sector or public-private partnerships.

The problems, he said, were not confined to the public sector alone as private sector projects too were plagued by time and cost overrun, unlike China, which hd scored over India in toimely project execution.

He also asked for introspection from FICCI to examine the phenomenon of project delays in India.