Infrastructure: Work-in-progress
The road sector got a boost in the Budget. Bharatmala phase-II will focus on developing State road networks and rural roads got an outlay of ₹80,250 crore to upgrade 1,25,000 km of rural roads over the next five years.
To bring down power tariffs, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said India will move to a single grid for power distribution. Old and inefficient plants will be retired, and issues of stalled gas-based power plants due to unavailability of natural gas will be resolved.
Issues like cross subsidy on power, duties on open-access sale of power will also be resolved in discussion with the States. A package for tariff and structural reforms will be announced soon along with an improved UDAY for State power distribution companies.
