Budget Byte: Expenditure on urban projects needs to reach pre-Covid levels

Rising Capex towards urban projects slowed in FY21 till now 

The government’s spending on urban development is majorly on metro projects (capital expenditure), housing for the underprivileged, and the urban renewal projects. Nearly half of the ministry spending is productive capex. But in the current financial year, the flow towards capex has slowed down a bit, due to the need to spend financial resources elsewhere. 

Big Hindi heartland states have spent most efficiently on Smart Cities projects

The Smart Cities mission was instituted to bring in investments in cities, which are undoubtedly the engines of growth. But against the work orders of over Rs 1 trillion issued to date, project to the tune of Rs 29,000 crore (27%) are complete (Sep 2020). But urbanisation varies across states. MP and UP lead in per capita spending under the initiative