The Union Budget for 2017-18 gives major thrust to infrastructure growth including development and upgrade of road, rail and aviation sectors in the country. The Budget makes an allocation of Rs 5.97 lakh crore for 2018-19, which is up by over Rs 1 lakh crore from the ongoing fiscal.
While National Highways exceeding 9,000 km will be completed in 2018-19, as many as 56 unserved airports will be connected under the Government’s regional air connectivity scheme.
The Budget also proposes redevelopment of 600 major railway stations with modern amenities and also underlines its priorities to the ‘Smart City Mission’. The National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) will also consider organising road assets into a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV).
“Infrastructure is the growth driver of the economy. Our country needs massive investment in access of Rs 50 lakh crore in infrastructure to increase growth of GDP and integrate the nation with a network of roads, airports, railways, inland water and to provide good quality services to the people,” Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said in his Budget speech.
Jaitely said the Bharatmala scheme will be enhanced for a seamless connectivity to interior and backward areas and borders of the country. Under the phase-I of the project, 35,000 km of highways would be constructed at an estimated cost of Rs 5.35 lakh crore.
The FM said the Prime Minister personally reviews the target and achievements in infrastructure sector on a regular basis by using online monitoring system. Projects worth Rs 9.46 lakh crore have been facilitated and fast-tracked, he said. In order to create employment and aid growth, the Government has increased budgetary and extra budgetary expenditure on infrastructure for 2018-19 to Rs 5.97 lakh crore from Rs 4.94 lakh crore in 2017-18.
Iin an effort to put the flagging revenues of the Indian railways back on track, a capital expenditure of Rs 1,48,528 crore for 2018-19 has been made. This is the highest ever capital expenditure made for national transporter with a 13 per cent increase over last year. From state-of-the-art facilities such as WiFi and CCTVs, more focus would be given on modernisation. 600 major railway stations will be redeveloped and stations with more than 25,000 footfalls will have escalators.
Laying out a roadmap for the Indian Railways, Jaitley said the focus would be on modernisation of signalling, use of fog safety devices, better passenger amenities and safety in the coming year.
Centre also announced that modern train sets with state-of-the-art amenities and features are being designed and the first such train set will be commissioned during 2018-19.
Jaitley also announced a ‘Safety First’ policy with allocation of adequate funds under Rashtriya Rail Sanraksha Kosh and a bonanza for suburban commuters in Mumbai and Bengaluru. “A large part of the Capex is devoted to capacity creation. 18,000 kilometres of doubling, third and fourth line works and 5,000 kilometres of gauge conversion would eliminate capacity constraints and transform almost entire network into Broad Gauge,” Jaitley said. In the coming year, 12,000 wagons, 5,160 coaches and approximately 700 locomotives will be procured and a major programme has been initiated to strengthen infrastructure at the Goods sheds and fast track commissioning of private sidings, he said.
For the first time, railways will expand the congested Mumbai transport system to add 90 km of double line tracks at a cost of over Rs 11,000 crore. The city will also get 150 km of additional suburban network at a cost of over Rs 40,000 crore, including elevated corridors on some sections.
As many as 56 unserved airports and 31 unserved helipads will be connected under the Government’s regional air connectivity scheme, Jaitley said adding the Government has proposed expansion of airport capacity by more than five times to handle a billion trips a year under a new initiative. “In the last three years, the domestic air passenger traffic grew at 18 per cent per annum and our airline companies placed orders for more than 900 aircraft,” he said.
While the budget announced for 10 dedicated tourist destinations to attract more visitors. Jaitley added that for promoting tourism and emergency medical care, the Government will make necessary framework for investment in the seaplane activities.
The FM also underlined that urbanisation is opportunity and priority and said that the Government has already launched Smart City mission that aims at creating state-of-the-art amenities. “Ninety-nine cities have been selected at an outlay of Rs 2.04 lakh crore. These cities have started
implementing various projects like smart roads, solar roof, intelligent transport system. Projects worth Rs 2,350 crore have been completed and work of Rs 20,850 crore has been under progress,” Jaitley said adding that heritage cities will be preserved and revitalised.