Funding faucet open, enhanced outlay of Rs 1.18 lakh crore for highways sector

The Union Budget for 2021-22 introduced a lavish outlay of Rs 1.18 lakh crore for the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, and several other flagship financial corridors, together with within the election-bound states of West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and Assam.
“I am…providing an enhanced outlay of Rs 1,18,101 lakh crore for the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, of which Rs 1,08,230 crore is for capital, the highest ever,” Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman mentioned in her Budget speech on Monday.
Tamil Nadu will get 3,500 km of nationwide freeway works at an funding of Rs 1.03 lakh crore, together with the Madurai-Kollam and Chittoor-Thatchur corridors. Construction will begin subsequent yr.
675 km of freeway works are deliberate in West Bengal at a price of Rs 25,000 crore, together with upgradation of the present Kolkata-Siliguri street.
In Kerala, 1,100 km of nationwide freeway works are deliberate at an funding of Rs 65,000 crore, together with a 600 km part of the Mumbai-Kanyakumari hall within the state.
National freeway works of round Rs 19,000 crore are presently in progress in Assam. Further works of greater than Rs 34,000 crore protecting greater than 1,300 km of nationwide highways will probably be undertaken within the state within the coming three years, Sitharaman mentioned.
An allocation of Rs 91,823 crore was made to highways for 2020-21, which was revised to Rs 1.01 lakh crore.Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari mentioned the Budget was historic.
“No other Budget in history has laid so much emphasis on infrastructure. It is known that with infrastructure works not only does the economy get a boost but there is definite job creation as well,” he mentioned.
Sitharaman mentioned that a number of the flagship corridors and different vital initiatives would see appreciable exercise in 2021-22.
More than 13,000 km of roads at a price of Rs 3.3 lakh crore has already been awarded underneath the Rs 5.35-lakh crore Bharatmala Pariyojana, of which 3,800 km have been constructed.
“By March 2022, we would be awarding another 8,500 km and complete an additional 11,000 km of national highway corridors,” she mentioned.
The flagship initiatives which can be to be expedited embody the Delhi-Mumbai expressway. For the Bengaluru-Chennai expressway, 278 km will probably be initiated within the present monetary yr, and building will start in 2021-22.
Work on the Delhi-Dehradun Economic Corridor will probably be initiated within the present monetary yr, whereas work on the Kanpur-Lucknow expressway will probably be initiated in 2021-22.
A 277-km Chennai-Salem hall will probably be awarded quickly, and building will begin in 2021-22. In addition, a 464-km Raipur-Visakhapatnam challenge passing by Chhattisgarh, Odisha, and north Andhra Pradesh will probably be awarded within the present yr, and building will begin in 2021-22.
Construction of the Amritsar-Jamnagar and Delhi-Katra expressways will begin in 2021-22.