Vandana Ramnani Moneycontrol News
The Interim Budget 2019 presented on February 1 saw the Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry outlay touch over Rs 48,000 crore, a nearly 12 percent increase from Rs 42,965 crore last year.
The Metro project received the biggest share of the pie - an allocation of Rs 19,152 crore, a 23 percent increase from Rs 15,600 crore last year. It is expected that the Metro network would be expanded to over 15 cities in 2019-2020.
The outlay for the flagship scheme of the government – the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (universal housing by 2022) or PMAY has received an allocation of Rs 25,853 crore compared to Rs 26,405 crore in 2018, an almost 2 percent decrease over last year.
As many as 1.53 crore houses have been constructed under the flagship housing scheme Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, interim Finance Minister Piyush Goyal said in his Budget speech on February 1.
"During the period 2014-18, a total number of 1.53 crore houses have been built under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY)," he said.
The number includes houses under rural and urban schemes.
PMAY (U) is a mission to provide housing to all by 2022 and is being implemented since 2015. It provides central assistance to urban local bodies and other implementing agencies through states/union territories for in-situ rehabilitation of existing slum dwellers using land as a resource through private participation, credit-linked subsidy, affordable housing in partnership and subsidy for beneficiary-led individual house construction/enhancement.
Sanjay Chatrath, executive director (NCR), Colliers International India, says that a 2 percent decrease in allocation compared to last year may not have a large impact on this ongoing programme. Dedicated affordable housing fund announced by the government today will further help housing finance segment and the PMAY programme implementation.
The government has allocated Rs 6,600 crore for the Smart Cities Mission, which is about 7 percent more than the amount set aside last year.
The government last year had proposed over 50 percent increase in the allocation for smart cities in Budget 2018 from Rs 4,000 crore for 2017-2018 to Rs 6,169 crore for 2018-2019.
Under the programme, 100 Smart Cities have been selected in four rounds based on an all India competition. All 100 cities have incorporated Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs). Since the launch of the mission, a total of 5,151 projects have been identified and are in various stages of implementation in 100 cities.
The government has set aside Rs 7,300 crore under the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) scheme that is targeted at upgrading urban infrastructure across 500 towns and cities.
This is an increase of almost 14.06 percent over last year's allocation.
The AMRUT scheme was allocated Rs 6,400 crore (revised) in last year's Budget. The allocation under the scheme was cut to Rs 6,000 crore in 2018-19 from Rs 9,000 crore in 2017-18.
AMRUT scheme is aimed at ensuring robust sewage networks, water supply and other civic amenities to improve the quality of life of people in urban areas.
Vandana.ramnani@nw18.com
Discover the latest Business News, Sensex, and Nifty updates. Obtain Personal Finance insights, tax queries, and expert opinions on Moneycontrol or download the Moneycontrol App to stay updated!
