Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday said in her Budget speech that as the “business as usual” approach towards urban planning would not work and a paradigm shift was needed, a high-level committee to give recommendations would be set up.
Half the population of the country would be living in urban areas by the time it celebrated its 100th year of Independence in 2047, making orderly urban development critically important, she noted.
“This will help realise the country’s economic potential, including livelihood opportunities for the demographic dividend. For this, on the one hand we need to nurture the megacities and their hinterlands to become current centres of economic growth. On the other hand, we need to facilitate tier 2 and 3 cities to take on the mantle in the future,” she observed.
Modernisation of building bye-laws
The proposed high-level committee would comprise urban planners, urban economists and institutions who will make recommendations on policies, capacity-building, planning, implementation and governance. She also proposed the modernisation of building bye-laws, town planning schemes and transit-oriented development.
“For developing India-specific knowledge in urban planning and design, and to deliver certified training in these areas, up to five existing academic institutions in different regions will be designated as centres of excellence. These centres will be provided endowment funds of ₹250 crore each. In addition, the AICTE will take the lead to improve syllabi, quality and access of urban planning courses in other institutions,” she stated.
Ms. Sitharaman proposed a ₹76549.46 crore Budget for the Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry, an increase from ₹54,581 crore in the Budget Estimate (BE) for 2021-2022 and the Revised Estimate (RE) for 2021-2022 of ₹ 73,850.26 crore.
Proposed funding for housing under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Urban) increased from ₹8,000 crore in BE 2021-2022 to ₹27,000 RE 2021-2022 to ₹28,000 in RE 2022-2023. The Budget proposed to increase the grants-in-aid to the State governments from ₹18,139.55 crore in BE 2021-2022 to ₹37,824.35 crore in 2022-2023.
On metro projects in the country, the Budget proposed ₹19,130 crore expenditure, while in the BE 2021-2022 was ₹18,998 crore.