India will get 100 more airports by 2024 under the UDAN (Ude Desh ka Aam Naagrik) regional connectivity scheme, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said Saturday in her Union Budget speech.
Two other major infrastructure announcements made in the budget speech were the proposed completion of the Delhi-Mumbai expressway by 2023, and the launch of a Chennai-Bengaluru expressway.
Nirmala Sitharaman proposed an outlay of Rs 1.7 lakh crore for transport infrastructure in 2020-21, and Rs 22,000 crore for the power and renewable energy sector.
A proposal to establish solar panel capacity along railway tracks on land owned by the Railways is under consideration, Nirmala Sitharaman said.
More Tejas type trains will connect iconic destinations, she said.
Nirmala Sitharaman’s budget speech contained important announcements on income tax, the welfare of SCs, OBCs and STs, education, agriculture and much more. (Get all Budget 2020 updates here.)
The budget was presented amid an economic slowdown, high inflation, falling productivity in key labour industries and a 42-year-high unemployment rate.
The budget announcement followed a downgraded growth prediction from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).