New Delhi, Sep 3 (IANS) Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday held meetings with senior officials of the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways and the Ministry of Telecommunication and directed them to expedite the work and complete the pending works of the first and second quarters in the third quarter.
The Finance Minister plans to hold review meetings with ministries/departments having significant capital expenditure. The Finance Ministry said that starting this today, Nirmala Sitharaman chaired a review meeting on budgetary capital expenditure for the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways and the Ministry of Telecommunications. Apart from the secretaries of both the ministries, the Secretary of the Department of Economic Affairs also attended the meeting.
Emphasising on meaningful creation of infrastructure for public use, the Finance Minister underlined the importance of setting quarterly targets and ensuring that they are achieved within the stipulated time frame. She called upon the concerned ministries to expedite the achievement of the targets of the first and second quarters in the third quarter itself.
With regard to the Ministry of Telecommunications, details of capital expenditure plans in FY 2024-25 for Bharat Net programme and 4G mobile projects using indigenous technology, networks for spectrum, and expansion of 4G and other mobile projects were discussed during the review.
The Secretary of the Ministry of Telecommunications told the Finance Minister that 21,000 4G mobile towers are operational with 30 lakh consumers with the help of fully indigenous 4G technology. He said that all the targets are in the right direction and will be achieved on time. The estimated capital budgetary allocation for the Ministry of Communications in the financial year 2024-25 is Rs 28,835 crore.
The Secretary, Ministry of Road Transport and Highways informed about the remarkable growth of the National Highway network in the last 10 years. He informed that the average annual construction of National Highways has increased by about 2.4 times in the period 2014-2024 as compared to 2004-2014. He also informed about the capital plans for the remaining period of FY 2024-25.
The budgetary capital expenditure allocation for the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has increased to ₹ 2.72 lakh crore in FY 2024-25 as compared to ₹ 1.42 lakh crore in FY 2019-20.
–IANS
AKJ/CBT
