Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has given a major push to the infrastructure sector in the Union Budget 2017. Arun Jaitley has allocated a record Rs 3.96 lakh crore to infra sector with an aim to boost economic activities in the country and create more job opportunities. He has also accorded infrastructure status to affordable housing projects which will give lot of tax incentives to the players.
For transportation sector as a whole, comprising rail, roads and shipping, the Finance Minister has said that provision of Rs 2,41,387 crore has been made in 2017-18. He also highlighted that the total capital and development expenditure of Railways has been pegged at Rs 1,31,000 crore for the financial year 2017-18 and this includes Rs 55,000 crore provided by the government from the Budget.
For the road sector, Jaitley said that the budget allocation has been stepped up for the National Highways from Rs 57,676 crore to Rs 64,000 crore in FY18. He also said that for construction and development 2,000 kms of coastal connectivity roads have been identified which will facilitate better connectivity of ports and remote villages. He also noted that the total length of roads including those under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) built from 2014-15 to current year is about 1,40,000 kms which is considerably higher than the previous three years. He added that an effective multi-modal logistics and transport system will make economy more competitive. A specific programme for development of multi-modal logistic parks together with multi-modal facilities will be drawn up and implemented.
On solar power front, FM said that the second phase of solar power development will be taken up with an aim of generating 20,000 MW. Also, he said select airports in tier-II cities will be taken up for operations and development on PPP mode. He added that a new metro rail policy will have innovative methods of financing.