Lok Sabha: Delay in stealth frigate project at Mazgaon Docks Ltd

In a written reply in the Lok Sabha, minister of state for defence production, Rao Inderjit Singh, has said that the project for the construction of three stealth frigates at Mazgaon Dock Limited (MDL), which had been sanctioned in 1998 with scheduled delivery for December 2005, December 2006 and 2007 respectively, for the three ships, have now been revised.

Construction, according to the minister''s reply, is currently progressing as per the revised schedule of delivery, and there has been no slippage.

According to the minister, the major reasons for the delays were concurrent design and construction of warships, delay in finalization of system and system interfaces for developmental equipment, delay in ordering of some weapon systems and non-performance of some of the indigenous vendors.

Important steps taken by the Government to rectify matters have been putting in place a stringent monitoring mechanism. Such a mechanism will operate with a half yearly review by the apex steering committee under secretary (defence production), a quarterly review by the controller of warship production and acquisitions, a half yearly review at inter governmental level for Russian equipment and the delegation of enhanced financial powers to the MDL.

The minister gave this information to members Anandrao V Adsul and AP Shivajirao in Lok Sabha today.