Budget 2019: Roads, airports, waterways retain focus in infrastructure spending

From highway construction to expansion in civil aviation and the start of inland waterway freight services, the Narendra Modi government kept focus on infrastructure.

Here is a quick rundown of what the infrastructure sector got in Interim Budget 2019:

   1.  With the commissioning of the Pakyong Airport in Sikkim, India now has 100 operational airports. The number of smaller airports is also tied in with the government's UDAN Scheme.

   2.  Minister Piyush Goyal also said India's domestic airline passenger traffic has doubled over the past five years.

   3.  India is also the country that is fastest when it comes to the construction of highways. It is adding 27 km every single day to its fast-expanding road network.

   4.  Goyal also announced that the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) is being allocated Rs.19,000 crore for 2019-20 as against the Rs15,500 crore spent in 2018-19.

   5.  The government also claimed credit for expediting a number of projects that have been in limbo for years, like the Eastern Peripheral Highway around Delhi and the Bogibeel rail-cum-road bridge in Assam and Arunachal Pradesh.

   6.  The government's slew of projects have now increased the connectivity of Northeastern states with the rest of the country. Arunachal Pradesh came on the air map recently, while Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram were connected by the railway network.

   7.  Goyal said 2018-19 has been the 'safest year' in the history of the Indian Railways. Among other things, he also announced that there are no unmanned level crossings anywhere on the broad gauge rail network.

   8.  The government has also introduced a new express train service. The semi high-speed 'Vande Bharat Express' is the first of its kind that is indigenously developed and manufactured.

   9.  The promotion of inland waterways as modes of freight transport got a shot in the arm, with the start of freight container movement between Varanasi and Kolkata.

  10.  The government is also continuing its Sagarmala initiative to boost coastal connectivity as an alternative to road and rail infrastructure creation. The programme envisages a string of operational ports that could help boost logistics.