New Delhi, Feb 29 (IANS): In a major push on infrastructure, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Monday announced allocation of Rs.97,000 crore for the roads sector in the union budget for the next fiscal.
This amount includes the Rs.19,000 crore he has allocated for rural roads under the Pradhanmatri Gram Sadak Yojna.
The finance minister also announced that road transport in the passenger segment would be opened up to the private sector.
Describing the legacy of problems in the roads sector that his government had inherited, Jaitley said around 70,000 road projects had got stalled, locking investment of up to Rs.1 lakh crore.
"I am happy to announce that our efforts have put back on track 85 percent of these stalled road projects," Jaitley told parliament.