Budget Proposals for 2017-18 fiscal at a glance

In the Budget proposals, the government has allocated staggering sum of Rs.3.96 lakh-cr for infrastructure, of which, a whopping amount of Rs.64,000-cr will go to road and highways and Rs. 55,000-cr for rail sector, and the remaining portion of funds have been allocated for waterways, civil aviation, and allied sectors, Finance Minister, Arun Jaitley said while presenting the Budget for 2017-18 fiscal to the Parliament. He added that the government is now able to synergize the investment in railways, roads, waterways, and civil aviation. For the upcoming fiscal, the total capital and development expenditure of Railways has been pegged at Rs. 1,31,000cr. In its entirety, Rs.2,41,387-cr has been provided for the transport sector as a whole, including railways, road, and shipping. In the road sector, the budget allocation for the National Highways has been increased from Rs. 57,676-cr in the 2016-17 to Rs. 64,000-cr in 2017-18 Budget proposals. The government has identified 2,000 km of roads for providing coastal connectivity covering ports and remote villages in the coastal belt of the country. The total length of roads including those under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) built during 2014-15 to current year, is about 1,40,000 kms which is significantly higher than the previous three years.

In addition to this, an effective multi-modal logistics and transport system is destined to make the country’s economy more competitive. On this score, a specific program for development of multi-modal logistic parks together with multi-modal facilities will be drawn up and implemented in true spirit. On the clean energy front, the second phase of solar power development will be taken up with an aim of generating 20,000 MW and the selected airports in tier-II cities will be taken up for operations and development on PPP model. Currently, the government is working out a new metro rail policy with innovative methods of financing and the rail line of 3,500 km will be commissioned in 2017-18 as against 2,800 km in 2016-17. Similarly, allocation under MNREGA has been increased to Rs. 48,000-cr from the current amount of Rs. 38,500-cr and the space technology to be used for monitoring MNREGA implementation, also, Rs. 27,000-cr will be invested under PMGSY. To make available housing units to the homeless, one crore houses will be built by 2019 for which, Rs. 23,000-cr has been allocated as compared to Rs.15,000-cr in the preceding financial year, he claimed.