Sitharaman stresses on greater synergy among infra projects across sectors

Bangalore, March 07 : Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday reiterated that the Budget 2022 stands for continuity, predictable tax regime and a vision for the next 20-25 years. Speaking at a post-Budget interaction with stakeholders from industry, trade, large taxpayers and select professionals here in the city, the Minister stressed on greater synergy among various infrastructure projects being taken up by the Centre and states. She said that this will have greater multiplier effect and benefit all. Calling for participatory role of states across various activities including infrastructure development, Sitharaman said that the broader principle is to get synergy out of all the investments being made by both Centre and states for infrastructure so that the multiplier effect has its intended benefits. The Minister said that infrastructure developments and investments should not happen in silos. “We have brought in the principle of PM Gati Shakti which in fact will be like an umbrella over the several projects all of which will have to have a giving in and taking out kind of benefits from each other’s presence. So the synergy of various investments which are happening in various areas whether ports, or roads, or bridges or trains will have to fall in to each other’s domain and give us a collective strength …,” she said. The Minister noted that the country pays heavily for its logistics costs and businesses suffer because of the additional expenses on it. Sitharaman also stressed the need to have all the support system particularly for health given that the country is still coming out of the Covid pandemic. NK