Infra built in last decade more than work done in last 60 years: Scindia

Infrastructure built in the last 10 years is more than the work done under 60 years of the previous regime, union minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said on Friday.

Minister for Communications and Development of North Eastern Region Scindia told reporters that under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's leadership, the government has developed infrastructure with a focus on quality, speed, quantity and coverage.

"There has been a 180-degree change in the infrastructure after 2014. The Prime Minister dedicated 15 Airports in a single day on March 10. The speed of infrastructure development in the last 10 years has been unmatched, unseen and unprecedented. Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh did not get any airport in 65 years. Today Sikkim has an airport and there are four airports in Arunachal," Scindia said.

He said that in 70 years of the previous regime, there were 74 airports which have been more than doubled to 157 under the Modi government and fleets have increased to around 750 from 400.

"Infrastructure plays a very important role in transforming a nation from a developing to a developed nation. Every penny spent on infrastructure leads to a 2.5 to 3 times contribution in GDP," Scindia said.

The minister said that the budget allocation for road, railways and aviation infrastructure has increased leaps and bounds in the last 10 years.

He said that capital expenditure of around Rs 11.5 lakh crore earmarked in the union budget is equivalent to GDP of some of the 10-12 countries.

"There has been a 10-15 per cent increase in its (capital expenditure) every year. In 2013-14, the budget allocated for roads was about Rs 31,130 crore which has been increased significantly to Rs 2.7 lakh crore in 2024-25 which means 9 times increase," Scindia said.

The minister said that a railway network equivalent to the size of that in Germany has been built in India in the last 10 years.

He said that the national highway network has increased to 150,000 kilometres from 91,000 kilometres. "Things that could not be done under the UPA regime, those things have been done by the NDA government under the leadership of the Prime Minister. A similar revolution we have seen in railways. There has been eight times growth in the budget," Scindia said.

He said in 2014-15 the pace of road construction was 12 kilometres per day to 37.8 kilometres per day and the target of the government is to increase it to 60 kilometres per day.

The minister said that due to a better road network, transit time for freight trucks has been reduced by about 20 per cent leading to an annual increase in savings of 4.8 lakh crore from 2.4 lakh crore earlier and the target of the government is to reduce logistics cost to 9 per cent.