Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today announced an increase of Rs 70,000 crore in developing road and rail infrastructure in the coming financial year.
Saying that the country needs to build an additional 100,000 km of road, Jaitley also announced issue of tax free bonds to fund roads, railways and irrigation projects.
Besides, he said, to improve efficiency ports in public sector will be encouraged to corporatise under Companies Act
To address power shortages, Jaitley also said that the government would commission five “ultra-mega” generation projects in 2015-15. These power projects with requisite clearances will be auctioned in ‘plug and play mode’. Each would be of 4000 MW capacity.
Video: Union Budget 2015: Insight by Financial Express Managing Editor Sunil Jain
Besides, the second unit of Kudankulam nuclear power station has been scheduled for commissioning in 2015-16.
The Minister said the government plans to set up a National Infrastructure Investment Fund in the coming financial year to expedite development of infrastructure projects..