MUMBAI: Physical connectivity – moving goods and people by roads, rail and air cheaply and efficiently – was the big thrust of Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s maiden budget speech, in which she mentioned the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana, industrial corridors, dedicated freight corridors, the Bhartamala and Sagarmala projects, Jal Marg Vikas (for capacity augmentation of navigation on national waterways) and UDAN (to encourage domestic air travel) schemes.
The numbers bear out the government’s intentions, with its reiteration to spend ₹100 lakh crore in infrastructure over the next five years. In her speech, Sitharaman said that the government will carry out a comprehensive restructuring of National Highway Programme “to ensure that the National Highway Grid of desirable length and capacity is created using financeable model”. The second phase of Bharatmala will focus on helping states develop state road networks.
