How Budget 2018 Will Boost Social Infra Around You

While picking a property for end-use, we look at so many things. Among the many factors that influence our purchase decision is connectivity and social-civic infrastructure in and around the locality. A house in a well-developed locality that has a booming social infrastructure would naturally cost your far more than the one around which the said infra is still developing.

Now, let us look at the key provisions made in the Budget 2018-19 that would improve the civic/social infra around India, making real estate in specific areas more lucrative.

A better connect

Improving connectivity has been the key focus area.

"Infrastructure is the growth driver of the economy. Our country needs massive investment in access of Rs 50 lakh crore in infrastructure to increase growth of GDP and integrate the nation with a network of roads, airports, railways, inland water and to provide good quality services to the people," the FM said.

On that account, allocation to build infra has been increased. This would be instrumental in improving the worth of real estate across Indian cities.

The Budget allocation for the road ministry has been increased to Rs 71,000 crore for 2018-19 from Rs 64,900 crore in the ongoing fiscal.

National highways exceeding 9,000 km will be completed in 2018-19, the FM said while adding that under the ongoing Bharatmala scheme, seamless connectivity will be provided to interior and backward areas and borders of the country. Under the Phase-I of the project, 35,000 km of highways would be constructed at an estimated cost of Rs 5.35 lakh crore.

Better roads mean better prospects for those having properties close to them.

There are plans to increase the number of airports by five times. There are 124 existing airports in the country. Cities where new airports are coming up will see demand for property rising.

As for the railways, Jaitley set aside Rs 1,48,528 crore for 2018-19. All trains will also now have state-of-the-art facilities such as Wi-Fi and CCTVs.

The Centre has kept an outlay of Rs 14,264.60 crore for Metro projects across the country in Budget for 2018-19. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has also allocated national capital Delhi Rs 50 crore to expand the cover of the network in the national capital region.

The Budget outlay of Rs 11,000 crore for Mumbai rail network will provide areas that it touches with a Midas touch. Similarly, with the expansion of Bengaluru suburban network at an expense of Rs 17,000 crore, rates of far-off areas of the city will get major boost.

In short, the government's focus on connectivity will not only push prices upwards in metro cities but also in Tier-II and Tier-III cities.

The 'root' cause

The Centre plans to develop 10 prominent tourist sites into "iconic tourism destinations", besides enhancing amenities at 100 Adarsh monuments.

"In the current year, we included, in the scope of harmonised list of infrastructure, ropeways to promote tourism, logistics parks and expanded the scope of railways infrastructure to include development of commercial land around railway stations," Jaitley said in his Speech.

"It is proposed to develop 10 prominent tourist sites into iconic tourism destinations by following a holistic approach, involving infrastructure and skill development, development of technology, attracting private investment, branding and marketing," Jaitley said.

"In addition, tourist amenities at 100 Adarsh monuments of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) will be upgraded to enhance visitor experience," he added.

Cities where this upgrade will be done would become more lucrative as real estate investment options.

On the safe side

The government is going to spend bigger to make our cities safer. The home ministry's Budgetary provisions have been pegged at over Rs 92,600 crore for 2018-19, a hike of 10.5 per cent over 2017-18, with a special emphasis on improving infrastructure of the police forces.

In the Budget, the Delhi Police have been allocated Rs 7,426.98 crore for 2018-19, an increase of 16 per cent from that in the previous Budget. For women's safety, Rs 19.75 crore has set aside under the Nirbhaya Fund.

Official data show crime rate in Delhi is the highest among 19 Indian cities, an ailment that takes a toll on the health of the city's real estate market.

With inputs from Housing News