Gati Shakti National Master Plan

Why in news?

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has launched the ambitious Rs 100 lakh crore Gati Shakti Master Plan to provide multi-modal connectivity to more than 1,200 industrial clusters.

What is Gati Shakti?

• The plan aims to transfer India into a hub of world class infrastructure by providing integrated and seamless connectivity for movement of people, goods and services.
• A digital platform will be created to bring 16 ministries including rail and roadways together for integrated planning and coordinated implementation of infrastructure projects.
• Comprehensiveness: It will incorporate the existing infrastructure schemes of different departments and state governments like Bharatmala, Sagarmala, inland waterways, UDAN etc.
• Analytical -It will offer 200 layers of geospatial data, including on existing infrastructure as well as geographic information about forests, rivers and district boundaries.
• Dynamic: The portal will allow various government departments to track the progress of various projects in real time and at one centralised place.
• Prioritization: Different Departments will be able to prioritize their projects through cross–sectoral interactions.
• Optimization- For the transportation of goods from one place to another, the plan will help in selecting the most optimum route in terms of time and cost.
• Synchronization: PM GatiShakti will help in synchronizing the activities of each department in a holistic manner by ensuring coordination of work between them.
• The project will be spearheaded by the logistics division in the commerce ministry and the implementation will be monitored by a monitoring group under the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT).

What are the targets to be achieved under Gati Shakti?

• 11 industrial corridors and two new defence corridors in Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh
• 4G connectivity in all villages
• Increasing renewable energy capacity to 225 GW from 87.7 GW
• Expanding the national highway network to 2 lakh km
• Increasing length of transmission network to 4,54,200 circuit km
• Creation of 220 new airports, heliports and water aerodromes
• Increasing cargo handling capacity of railways to 1,600 million tons from 1210 million tons
• Adding 17,000 km to gas pipeline network
• 202 fishing clusters/harbours/landing centres and more

What are the existing challenges in the infrastructure creation?

• Lack of coordination between different Departments
• Wasteful expenditure
• Time-taking approval process
• Multiplicity of regulatory clearances
• Hostile land acquisitions
• Difficulties in getting environmental clearance

What will be the benefits of the Gati Shakti plan?

• The plan aims to build Next Generation Infrastructure which will improve Ease of Living as well as Ease of Doing Business.
• It will facilitate the last mile connectivity of infrastructure and also reduce travel time for people.
• It will provide the public and business community information regarding the upcoming connectivity projects, other business hubs, industrial areas and surrounding environment
• The plan enables the investors to plan their businesses at suitable locations leading to enhanced synergies.
• It will create multiple employment opportunities and give a boost to the economy.
• It will improve the efficiency of port operations and cargo handling capacity and cut the vessel turnaround time.

Studies estimate that logistics costs in India are about 13-14% of GDP as against about 7-8% of GDP in developed economies.

• The plan will improve the global competitiveness of local products by cutting down the logistics costs and improving the supply chains.

Source: The Hindu, PIB