Budget 2024 Expectations Live: Thrust on infrastructure will continue over the next 5 years

Anil Bansal, Senior Director – Urban Infrastructure & Tourism, IPE Global lists his Budget 2024 expectations for infrastructure:

In the interim budget in February, it was announced that the outlay for infrastructure has reached 3.4% of GDP at Rs 11.11 lakh crore, topping the previous high of Rs 10 lakh crore during fiscal 2023-24. With the elections behind us and the continuation of the NDA government for its third term, it is now certain that this thrust on infrastructure will continue over the next 5 years, with special emphasis on sustainable cities and sustainable tourism.

We expect substantial budgetary commitments to the urban sector in line with pre-election announcements.

• Major allocations to the housing sub-sector shall continue, considering the proposed expansion of the PMAY mission and slum re-developments.
• The mobility sub-sector will also receive major outlays. Apart from metro rail and multi-modal transport facility projects, the re-development of several railway stations and provision of e-buses in major cities will require increased financing.
• Allocation to the urban water sub-sector is not expected to increase by much. Major initiatives such as AMRUT 2.0, SBM 2.0, NMCG have been progressing steadily over the last few years, and annual fund requirements of states and UTs are already known. As of now, there are no major programmes in pipeline that could necessitate additional budgets.

Apart from this, we expect to witness renewed focus on waste management, especially on managing open dumpsites and landfills, bio-mining, bio-methanation, etc. under the waste-to-wealth mission, all of which ideally requires higher capital commitments.

There was major increase in the tourism sector allocation in the Interim Budget, mainly due to the Swadesh Darshan (SD 2.0) and PRASHAD schemes. We expect similar allocations to reflect in the full budget, since the projects under SD 2.0 are moving towards the implementation stage this year.

With cities being recognized as engines of growth, it is imperative to transform how urban local bodies and other institutional stakeholders function. This is essential to improve management of infrastructure and improve coverage and quality of urban services. In this context, we would like this budget to finally focus also on a comprehensive set of urban reforms. which have been pending for decades, and which are critical for moving towards sustainable urban rejuvenation.