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With successful running of Chennai Metro Rail in first phase, three metro rail corridors covering a total distance of 107.55 km under Phase-2 have been proposed by State government to the Centre for approval.
The Tamil Nadu government has also initiated work to establish a metro rail project in Coimbatore.
In Budget Estimates, ₹750 crore and ₹1,000 crore have been allocated to provide share capital assistance and subordinate debt respectively for Chennai Metro project, Finance Minister O Paneerselvam said in his budget speech.
Chennai Metro Rail project has brought massive transformation in urban transportation. As against the project cost of ₹22,828 crore, including Thiruvottriyur extension, an expenditure of ₹16,258.45 crore has been incurred so far, he said.
The Tamil Nadu government has also initiated the process to prepare feasibility-cum-Detailed Project Report for Metro Rail project in Coimbatore, he said.
Under Comprehensive Road Infrastructure Development Programme, widening of 1,000 km of roads and improvement of 4,000 km of roads will be taken up in 2018-19. The government has already brought the upgradation and maintenance of roads in Pollachi, Krishnagiri, Ramanathapuram, Tiruvallur and Virudhunagar divisions under ‘Performance Based Maintenance Contract’ system.
New buses
Paneerselvam said in 2018-2019, State government will infuse share capital of ₹600 crore into State Transport Undertakings to purchase and induct 3,000 new buses. With 2,000 new buses sanctioned during 2017-2018, and with these 3,000 new buses, the STUs will replace all 4,593 old buses that have been in use for over ten years.
As a one-time measure, the government is providing ways and means advance of ₹900 crore in this Budget to STUs to settle their pending liabilities to financial institutions and staff commitments. An amount of ₹2,717.34 crore has been allocated for the transport department. This includes ₹799.25 crore as subsidy for free bus passes to students and senior citizens, he said.
Renewable
On renewable energy, Tamil Nadu Energy Development Agency will enter into an MoU with India’s Energy Efficiency Services Ltd. This is expected to expedite investment to tune of ₹11,000 crore in renewable energy sector over next three years.
The takeover of ₹22,815 crore debt from Tangedco in 2016-2017 under Ujwal Discom Assurance Yojana by the government has improved financial position of Tangedco.
The net loss of Tangedco is estimated to reduce from ₹4,349 crore in 2016-2017 to ₹2,975 crore in 2017-2018, he said.
In Budget Estimates 2018-2019, an amount of ₹13,964.08 crore has been provided for Energy sector, which includes ₹7,537.78 crore as power subsidy for agriculture and other purposes, he said.
Industrial development
Capitalising on well developed automobile sector, State government will provide special emphasis to establish aerospace park and defence manufacturing corridor, which is expected to attract ₹10,000 crore investment, he said.
State government will continue the policy of extending structured package assistance for large investments. The package of assistance will be decided on a case-by-case basis depending up on the investment level, generation of employment opportunities and the potential to create ancillary and down-stream industries.
During 2017-18, the State government disbursed ₹1,600 crore as investment subsidy and this has been enhanced to ₹2,000 crore for the year 2018-19, he said.
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