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Budget 2021-22, a promising budget on Infrastructure front, allotting highest capital on infrastructure spending by any margin, Railways and Highways receive more than Rs. 2 lakh crore rupees for expenditure, along with new highways announced in states of Kerala, Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Assam, and a financial institutions is established to finance National Infrastructure pipeline worth Rs. 111 lakh crore, and more developments in infrastructure sectors have occurred, we bring it to you in this newsletter.
Apart from News, further nudging you with niche analysis and deep insights into various sectors of Indian infrastructure, we are launching our first infrastructure exclusive print and e-magazine. our first magazine looks at Metro rail systems in India, current developments and envisions a future of metro rail transit in India cities.
Budget Highlight & Ground Reports
Budget Bespoke For Infrastructure: How Much Will Be Spent On Infrastructure
Finance Minister presented budget for 2021-22 in Parliament on February 1, laying trajectory for economic direction further from a pandemic-hit economy.
After announcing major allocations for ramping health infrastructure, as was needed to respond to pandemic, especially to increase inoculation efforts.
Next main attention was given to infrastructure allocation, which can generate jobs and revive consumption immediately, and allocations were backed with institutional responses, appropriate legislations and fiscal transparency. (read full article)
India’s Unconventional Way Into Industrial Revolution 4.0 Through Construction
– by Abhishek Patil
The world today is on the cusp of a major technology overhaul, the “Industrial Revolution 4.0” (IR4), with the advent of technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), 3D printing, Internet of Things (IOT), and quantum computing. These advances promise to fundamentally alter the way we live, work, and interact as a society.
Specifically in the industry and construction space, IR4 is offering to bring together mechanical systems, which can perform harder and repetitive physical tasks, and digital systems, which can carry out complex cognitive tasks. When these two forces are put together, we can not only do complex physical tasks but constantly self-learn new and efficient patterns of going about work. (read full article)
Road & Railways
Railways To Complete 126 Critical Rail Projects On Priority
Indian Railways has prioritised 126 projects for speedy execution so that freight and passenger service get maximum benefit from its completion.
Contrary to the earlier regime, now the focus is on the projects which are crucial for the nation as part of the expansion of rail infrastructure.
Earlier many projects announcements were made under political compulsion and as a result there was a huge pile-up of projects, Railway Minister Piyush Goyal said while addressing the virtual conference here. (read full article)
New NHAI Policy: Zero-Tolerance Towards Faulty Contractors, Penalty Up To Rs. 10 Crore And Debarment From NHAI Projects
NHAI is driving quality assurance in its projects strongly, in this view it has implemented a new policy wherein it can fine contractors up to Rs. 10 crore along with debarment up to three years if contractors or consultants are responsible for lapses and faulty construction of NHAI projects.
“In order to deal with the lapses in highway development, NHAI has issued a strict policy to decide penal action against defaulting firms/ personnel if there are any lapses in construction standards of bridges/ structures/approaches to structure etc by the Concessionaires/ Contractors / Consultants,” NHAI said in a statement. (read full article)
Indian Railways Set To Complete 56 Key Existing Projects By March Next Year
To strengthen rail infrastructure and make its network future ready, Indian Railways has identified 56 projects all across the country in various zones to be completed by March next year. Out of these, 13 will be completed by March this year.
In a statement issued on Wednesday (3 January) , the Ministry of Railways said that Indian Railways has the highest ever total plan capital expenditure of Rs 2,15,058 crore this year, out of which Rs 1,07,100 crore has been allocated in the General Budget.
“This time onwards, in a paradigm shift, Railways has focused on the completion of existing projects quickly as well besides simultaneously working on the new projects announced,” it said. (read full article)
Modi Govt To Invest Around Rs 2.17 Lakh Crore To Build Three New Dedicated Freight Corridors
The three upcoming dedicated freight corridors (DFC) announced by the Finance Minister (FM) Nirmala Sitharaman in Budget 2021 are expected to be built with an investment of about Rs 2.17 lakh crore, reports Moneycontrol.
In an effort to decrease logistics cost and aid the domestic manufacturing industry, on Monday (01 February) FM announced the East Coast Freight Corridor from Kharagpur to Vijayawada, East – West Freight Corridor from Bhusawal to Kharagpur to Dankuni and North – South Freight Corridor from Itarsi to Vijayawada (read full article)
A Budget To Make Indian Railways Future Ready
With highest-ever allocation to rail sector at Rs 215,058 crore as against Rs 161,692 crore last year for enhancing passenger travelling experience, adding more goods corridors and high-speed network across the country along with complete route electrification, it’s a future-ready budget indeed.
Hoping for revival of full-fledged train journeys in the post-Covid fiscal, Indian Railways has pegged passenger revenue at Rs 61,000 crore in 2021-22 budget estimates, the same target in the last budget. The passenger earnings in 2020-21 were a paltry Rs 15,000 crore due to the pandemic. (read full article)
Budget Push For World Class Infra: FM Announces Major Road Projects For TN, Kerala, Bengal, Assam
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman rolled out specific announcements for election-bound states of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, West Bengal and Assam.
Overall, the government has already awarded contracts for more than 13,000 KM of roads at a cost of Rs 3.3 lakh crore under the 5.35 lakh crore Bharatmala Pariyojana project.
Now, around 675 km of highway works has been announced for West Bengal with an outlay of Rs 25,000 crore. (read full article)
Urban Development & Water
Government Envisions Eight New Greenfield Cities In Selected States, Rs. 8,000 Crore Allocated In Initial Stage
Finance Commission for the first time has created a provision for Rs 8,000 crore incentive grant for eight states for incubation of one new city each as a pilot project.
The Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry will come up with the framework for this, which will be taken up on a challenge mode.
While Rs 1,000 crore would not be sufficient to build a new city, states should see this as seed funding for an innovative venture.
“We will start work on this. For several years, no new city has been developed and hence this need was felt. We have taken a policy decision that all new cities should be developed on the principle of Smart Cities. It will be too early to say whether these will be completely greenfield cities,” Housing and Urban Affairs Secretary Durga Shankar Mishra said in a post-budget presser here. (read full article)
Jal Jeevan Mission To Ensure Water Supply To All Urban Households Across India
Pitching for supplying water to all households in urban areas, the government has launched Jal Jeevan Mission (Urban) in accordance with SDG goal.
Designed to provide universal coverage of water supply to all households through functional taps in all 4,378 statutory towns, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has announced Jal Jeevan Mission (Urban) in the Budget.
Besides, providing coverage of sewerage/septage management in 500 AMRUT cities is the other focus area of the Mission.(read full article)
Infra Related
India To Have 100 Times More Detailed High-Resolution Maps: Survey Of India Begins Cartographic Exercise
Survey of India (SoI) will carry out its high-resolution cartographic exercise, this is first update in 16 years.
By the end of June, six states, Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Uttarakhand will have 100 times more sophisticated and detailed maps than existing ones, and they the end of year SoI aims to conclude maps for three more states, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra.
Operations to survey have already begun, about 23,000 villages have been covered, this project will eventually cover all states, but timelines have been hard to predict due to COVID induced gaps, operations, Surveyor General of India Lt Gen Girish Kumar (retired), person in-charge of project said, ToI reported. (read full article)
Other Reads
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Decoding Budget 2021: Infrastructure, innovation and clean energy transition– ORF
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Railways Minister Piyush Goyal hints at listing of DFC assets for monetisation– Financial Express
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SCR gets ₹ 7,222 crore to focus on infrastructure, safety projects– The Hindu
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Centre targets land disputes that cripple India’s infrastructure – Live Mint
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