BENGALURU: To strengthen urban growth, the Union Budget has proposed setting up seven City Economic Regions (CER) across India, with Bengaluru selected from Karnataka.
In the budget presented on Sunday, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said Tier 2 and 3 cities, which need modern infrastructure and basic amenities, would be granted an allocation of Rs 5,000 crore per CER over five years.
“Cities are India’s engines of growth, innovation and opportunities. We shall now focus on Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities, and even temple-towns, which need modern infrastructure and basic amenities. This Budget aims to further amplify the potential of cities to deliver the economic power of agglomerations by mapping City Economic Regions based on their specific growth drivers.
An allocation of Rs 5,000 crore per CER over five years is proposed for implementing their plans through a challenge mode with a reform-cum-results-based financing mechanism,” Sitharaman said. The budget’s focus on developing CER has been welcomed by experts.
“For industries to develop, they need to be given basic infrastructure like roads, electricity, water, communications and others. We guess a major share of the Rs 5,000 crore would be used for these in the CER,” D Rajasekhar, former director of Institute for Social and Economic Change (ISEC) said.
“CER cannot be located far from a city. While we don’t know exactly where this is going to be set up, it is expected to be near Bengaluru, like in Peenya, Ramanagara, Tumakuru, Kolar.”
He said the success of this initiative will depend on the location of the CER. “We cannot strongly say if the development will ease out the pressure on Bengaluru. All depends on the CER location and what the Rs 5,000 crore is spent on,” he said.
CREDAI Karnataka President Bhaskar T Nagendrappa, said, “Growth is where infrastructure is. The moment infrastructure expenditure increases, growth follows. CER is a welcome initiative in the budget”.
“The budget’s emphasis on Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities is a welcome and much-needed shift. Growth is no longer metro-centric, and this focus will help decentralise talent, reduce migration pressure and create sustainable employment ecosystems closer to where people live,” said Subramanyam S, CEO, Ascent HR Technologies.