The Narendra Modi government announced a number of initiatives to boost road, air, sea and inland infrastructure as part of its budget presented on Saturday. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced an allocation of Rs 1.7 lakh crore for the transport infrastructure.
Sitharaman stressed on accelerated development of highways. Sitharaman said 12 lots of highway bundles would be monetised by 2024. Sitharaman said the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway project would be completed by 2023, while work on the Chennai-Bengaluru Expressway would begin soon.
Emphasising the need for seaports to be more competitive, Sitharaman said the government was considering 'corporatising' one major port and listing it on the stock market.
Highlighting progress in development of inland waterways, Sitharaman said the Jal Vikas Marg for capacity augmentation of National Waterway would be completed.
On the aviation sector, Sitharaman said 100 more airports would be ready by 2024 to support the UDAN scheme that seeks to take air travel to remote corners of the country. The government is also working to enhance the size of the air fleet from 600 aircraft to 1,200 by 2024, Sitharaman said. Earlier, when speaking on agriculture, Sitharaman said the civil aviation ministry will launch a 'Kisan Udan' scheme to allow for aerial transport of perishable goods across the country and overseas.
Referring to power generation, Sitharaman conceded that DISCOMS were under stress and the government was working to promote smart metering. Conventional electricity meters would be replaced by prepaid smart meters in the next three years. This would give consumers freedom to choose suppliers and rate as per requirement, Sitharaman argued.
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Sitharaman announced an allocation of Rs 22,000 crore for power and renewable energy.
The government will also expand the PM Kusum scheme to assist 20 lakh farmers to set up stand-alone solar power facilities. The excess power from these facilities can be shared with the power grid, Sitharaman said.
2019 budget allocation
During her budget presentation in July 2019, Sitharaman had announced an estimated “Rs 80,250 crore” for upgradation of 1.25 lakh km of roadways under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana Phase 3. This was part of an investment commitment of Rs 100 lakh crore for infrastructure over the next five years.
