#DelhiBudget: Govt Allocates Rs 3,913 Cr For Housing & Urban Development

The Delhi government on February 27 announced a Rs 60,000-crore Budget for the financial year 2019-20 with a prime focus on housing and infrastructure development in the city, along with education and healthcare.

Housing & urban development

The Delhi government allocated Rs 3,914 crore for the housing and urban development. Of this nearly Rs 1,600 crore was proposed for the development of unauthorised and resettlement colonies in Delhi, which would include providing basic infrastructure facilities such as roads, drains, water supply, sewerage, sanitation and street lights. This allocation has been proposed to improve the  living conditions of the residents of these unauthorised colonies.

Delhi Metro

For the development of the Delhi Metro’s Phase IV, the Delhi government allocated Rs 500 crore. Work on the 104-km-long Metro project, which received an in-principle approval from the Delhi government in 2016,  is yet to start. "Our government has approved the proposal of Phase-IV of Delhi Metro project comprising six corridors with the length of 103.93 km. With the completion of the Phase-IV project, total length of the Delhi Metro will become 453.93 km. I propose Rs 500 crore in the budget 2019-20 for Metro Phase-IV project," Delhi’s Deputy Chief Minister and Finance Minister Manish Sisodia said in his Budget Speech.

The routes that will be developed under the Phase-IV include Rithala-Narela (21.73 km), Janakpuri West-R K Ashram (28.92 km), Mukundpur-Maujpur (12.54 km), Inderlok-Indraprastha (12.58 km), Tughlakabad-Aerocity (20.20 km), and Lajpat Nagar-Saket G-Block (7.96 km).

Roads & bridges

A Rs 1,900-crore fund was allocated to the development of roads in and bridges, 73 per cent more than what was allocated for 2018-19 fiscal. Of this, Rs 308 crore worth of funds will be given for street-scaping six Public Works Department (PWD) stretches.

The government also proposed Rs 800 crore that will be released to the urban local bodies under the Mukhya Mantri Sadak Punarnirman Yojana. This money will be used for developmental works of roads, streets in areas of urban local bodies, group housing societies and regularised unauthorised colonies.

Sisodia also announced a four-lane 25-km road between Dhansa Regulator and Dwarka Mor. This road will be constructed at a cost of Rs 500 crore. Flyovers at Shastri Park intersection and Seelampur, work on which is already underway, funds worth Rs 303 crore have been proposed.

Local bodies

The Delhi government, in order to fuel the local bodies in the city, announced a financial support of Rs 6,380 crore, including the three municipal corporations. Implementing the recommendations of the Fifth Delhi Finance Commission, the government will provide for Rs 4,575 crore in the Budget as devolution to local bodies, which is 12.5 per cent of estimated net tax collection for 2019-20. Additionally, an amount of Rs 1,805 crore has been provided for local bodies as share in stamps and registration fee and a one-time parking fee.