Urban development has been one of the key focal points of the budget which is addressed through various initiatives aimed at improving housing, rental facilities, city planning, water supply, sanitation, and support for street vendors.
Need of Urban Transformation strategy
- Currently,urban areas constitute ~35% of India’s population which is expectedto grow to 53% by 2047.
- Urban centres contribute ~66% to the national GDP and expected to reach 80% by 2050.
- Key issues in India’s urban centres include infrastructure deficit, rapidly deteriorating environment like air pollution, sub-optimal planning and governance, etc.
Key Strategies announced in the budget
- Housing: Expansion of PM Awas Yojana for the construction of 3 crore additional houses and interest subsidies to facilitate loans at affordable rates.
- Facilitation of rental housing with dormitory-type accommodation for industrial workers through PPP mode
- Cities as Growth Hub: Creative brownfield redevelopment of existing cities, focusing on enabling policies, market-based mechanisms, and regulation.
- Transit Oriented Development plans will be implemented for 14 large cities with populations above 30 Lakhs.
- Street Vendors: New scheme to support development of 100 weekly 'haats' or street food hubs each year for the next 5 years in select cities.