Union Budget: FM announces road infrastructure projects for 4 poll-bound states

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday announced the highway infrastructure plan for four poll-bound states -- Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Kerala and Assam.

Presenting the Union Budget 2021-22, Sitharaman gave a breakout of the highway projects in the four states. "Tamil Nadu will get Rs 1.03 lakh crore for building of 3,500 km of roads, Kerala will get Rs 65,000 crores for 1,500 km of roads and West Bengal will get Rs 95,000 crores for 675 km road. In Assam, 1,300 km roads will be constructed at a cost of Rs 3,400 crore," she said.

"Over 13,000 km length of roads at a cost of Rs 3.3 lakh crores has already been awarded under Rs 5.35 lakh crore Bharatmala project of which 3,800 kms have been constructed. By March 2022 we would be awarding another 8,500 kms and complete an additional 11,000 kms of National Highway Corridor," she added.

Sitharaman announced that National Monetisation Pipeline for brownfield projects will be launched.

She further said that five operational road projects with an estimated enterprise value of Rs 5,000 crore is being transferred to the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI). Transmission assets worth Rs 7,000 crore will be transferred to Power Grid Corporation of India Limited, she added.

The next lots of airports will be privatised in tier 2 and 3 towns and cities, the Minister said adding that the airports will be monetised for operations and management concessions. "Seven port projects worth more than Rs 2,000 crore will be offered by major ports in a public-private partnership model, in FY 2021-2022, to move to a model where private partners will manage operations of ports."

( With inputs from ANI )