The Modi Government on Friday announced a slew of steps in the annual Budget to scale up India's infrastructure including augmenting 1,25,000 km of rural roads under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana at a cost of Rs 80,250 crore and creating a national highways grid.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman outlined a host of measures to boost infrastructure, digital economy and jobs creation to achieve $5 trillion economy target and said a massive push to all forms of physical connectivity is helping bridge the rural-urban divide.
Announcing various infrastructure projects, the first woman Finance Minister in her maiden Budget speech proposed to make a blueprint available for developing gas grids, water grids and regional airports as well a railway infrastructure worth Rs 50 lakh crore till 2030 using public-private partnerships. She also talked about the development of inland waterways.
"I wish to propose a number of initiatives as part of kick-starting the virtuous cycle of domestic and foreign investment," Sitharaman said. The Government also announced to unveil a package for power sector soon and go ahead with structural reforms to achieve the objective of 'One Nation One Grid'.
She announced a comprehensive restructuring of National Highways Programme, schemes such as Bharat Mala, Sagarmala and UDAN (Ude Desh Ka Aam Nagrik) to bridge the rural urban divide by improving transport infrastructure, she advocated for a public private partnership to develop rail infrastructure. Sitharaman said 657 km of metro rail network has become operational across country.
Tabling the Modi 2.0 Government's Budget in Parliament, Sitharaman said that steps were taken to boost infrastructure in sectors like roads, waterways, metro and rail. She also emphasised on the measures for a self-reliant aviation industry. About movement of cargo through waterways, she said cargo movement on Ganga will increase four times in the coming four years.
On electric vehicles, she said the Government has already approved Rs 10,000 crore for FAME II scheme on April 1, 2019 to encourage faster adoption of electric vehicles by providing right incentives and charging infrastructure.
She proposed that a public private partnership (PPP) be used to unleash faster development and delivery of passenger freight services for railway projects to boost the connectivity. "Railways will be encouraged to invest in suburban railways through special purpose vehicles (SPVs) and enhance metro rail network through PPPs," she said.
The Government envisions using rivers for cargo transportation, which will also decongest roads and railways, Sitharaman said. Railway stations modernisation will be launched this year, she added.
The Finance Minister said as the world's third largest aviation market, time is ripe to enter aircraft financing and leasing from Indian shores. She further noted that last mile delivery stood out and asserted that the Government's objective has been and continues to be "Mazboot desh ke liye mazboot nagarik".