New Delhi: Giving an impetus to the infrastructure sector, the finance minister Arun Jaitley unveiling the Union Budget on Monday allocated as much as of A Rs 2.21 lakh crore for the sector and also offered a slew of proposals, including abolishing permit raj and setting up a dispute redressal system, aimed at removing bottlenecks. “Infrastructure is one of the priority areas of the government. The total outlay for infrastructure in BE 2016-17 stands at Rs 2,21,246 crore,” Mr Jaitley said.
The road transport and highways minister Nitin Gadkari termed the Budget as a “landmark one, revolutionary and historic”, saying it would result in an “unprecedented growth of the sector which was in ICU earlier”. With highways taking the centre-stage with enhanced allocation of Rs 97,000 crore, the game-changing initiatives include upgradation of 50,000 kms of state highways into national highways and clearance of 85 per cent of the stalled Rs 1 lakh crore projects.
“This is a totally unreformed sector which suffers from several impediments. Abolition of the permit raj will be our medium-term goal... Entrepreneurs will be able to operate buses on various routes, subject to certain efficiency and safety norms,” the finance minister said.
He proposed an allocation of Rs 55,000 crore in the Budget for roads and highways. This will be further topped up by an additional Rs 15,000 crore to be raised by NHAI through bonds.
