1300 issues of 422 projects resolved within 8 month of PM Gati Shakti launch

Around 1300 issues related to 422 projects under PM GatiShakti initiative have been resolved in the first eight months of the launch of the initiative, Anurag Jain, Secretary, the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), said on Thursday.

Around 1300 issues related to 422 projects under PM GatiShakti initiative have been resolved in the first eight months of the launch of the initiative, Anurag Jain, Secretary, the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), said on Thursday. There are more than 1700 projects under PM Gati Shakti, 1300 projects are ongoing and 1100 issues are still pending.

Resolution of issues for time-bound project implementation has gained momentum through the Project Monitoring Group (PMG) mechanism, Jain said. PM GatiShakti National Master Plan (PMGS-NMP) was launched on October 13, 2021 for providing multimodal connectivity infrastructure to various economic zones. Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) accorded approval for the implementation of PM GatiShakti National Master Plan on October 21, 2021.

PM GatiShakti is a transformative approach for economic growth and sustainable development. The approach is driven by seven engines - railways, roads, ports, waterways, airport mass transport and logistics infrastructure. Jain said that user ministries are undertaking infrastructure audits to identify critical last and first mile infrastructure gaps. These projects will be taken up by concerned ministries to complete the missing links.

So far, 196 critical infrastructure gap projects pertaining to port connectivity and movement of coal, steel and food products have been identified, on which the Network Planning Group (NPG) is coordinating with the concerned ministries. Jain said more than 900 data layers of concerned central ministries/departments have been uploaded on the National Master Plan. Individual portals with necessary data layers, customised tools and functionalities for all concerned central ministries and state governments have been developed.

Ownership of the individual portals lies with the respective central ministries and state governments, responsible for regularly uploading and updating necessary data layers critical for infrastructure and logistics development and 654 essential layers have been integrated by the states and UTs on to the National Master Plan. Over 1000 Deputy Secretary and above Officers of central ministries/ departments and over 80 officials from 34 PSUs have been sensitised on PM GatiShakti National Master Plan. Training of 862 state and UT officials on PM GatiShakti State Master Plan has been conducted.

At national level, the institutional framework, the Empowered Group of Secretaries (EGoS), Network Planning Group (NPG) and Technical Support Unit (TSU) are fully operational and all states and UTs have been on board to use PM GatiShakti National Master Plan. Fourteen states have formed their state logistics policy viz Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Manipur, Mizoram, Rajasthan, Telangana and Uttar Pradesh. Thirteen state logistics policies are in draft stage. Jain said that the ministries have started sharing proposals for examination by Network Planning Group (NPG).

Thirty-one meetings of the NPG have been held, wherein projects have been examined on the principles as per Department of Expenditure's guidelines. So far over 20 projects have been considered by NPG on the principles of PM GatiShakti. This mechanism has been benefitting ministries in terms of faster issue resolution through better coordination; synchronous implementation; integrated planning and improvement in multimodal connectivity.

Based on recommendations of the NPG, respective commodity flows and trade volumes, user ministries are conducting complete audit of trunk infrastructure, logistics assets, utility network, etc. to identify project needs and develop a comprehensive multimodal connectivity plan. Jain said that Department of Telecom, Ministry of Railways, Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Ministry of Port Shipping and Waterways, Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, Department of Food and Public Distribution have started using the platform for infrastructure planning and decision-making.

MORTH has used the portal to make pre-alignments for 11 greenfield projects under Bharatmala. (ANI)

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