Gati Shakti scheme

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• Recently, at a meeting between the Prime Minister and state chief secretaries all state governments have agreed to support the Gati Shakti scheme.

Major highlights of the meeting

• Participation: All key Central ministries were already part of it and now state governments have also given their consent to support it.
• Detailed project report (DPR): the focus is on reducing the time taken to award a project starting from preparation of a detailed project report (DPR) till the project is assigned.
• Portal: the portal is designed to enable project implementers to plan better and all stakeholders will have access to the portal.

About Gati Shakti Master Plan 

• On India’s 75th Independence Day, Prime Minister announced that the Centre will launch ‘PM Gati Shakti Master Plan’, a Rs. 100 lakh-crore project for developing ‘holistic infrastructure’.

• It will incorporate the infrastructure schemes of various Ministries and State Governments like Bharatmala, Sagarmala, inland waterways, dry/land ports, UDAN etc. 
  • Economic Zones like textile clusters, pharmaceutical clusters, defence corridors, electronic parks, industrial corridors, fishing clusters, agri zones will be covered to improve connectivity & make Indian businesses more competitive. 
  • It will also leverage technology extensively including spatial planning tools with ISRO imagery developed by BiSAG-N (Bhaskaracharya National Institute for Space Applications and Geoinformatics).
• It will also leverage technology extensively including spatial planning tools with ISRO imagery developed by BiSAG-N (Bhaskaracharya National Institute for Space Applications and Geoinformatics).
• 6 pillars of the Plan:
  • Comprehensiveness: 
    • It will include all the existing and planned initiatives of various Ministries and Departments with one centralised portal. 
    • Each and every Department will now have visibility of each other’s activities providing critical data while planning & execution of projects in a comprehensive manner.
  • Prioritisation: 
    • Through this, different Departments will be able to prioritise their projects through cross–sectoral interactions.
  • Optimization: 
    • The National Master Plan will assist different ministries in planning for projects after identification of critical gaps. 
    • For the transportation of the goods from one place to another, the plan will help in selecting the most optimum route in terms of time and cost.
  • Synchronisation: 
    • Individual Ministries and Departments often work in silos and there is lack of coordination in planning and implementation of the project resulting in delays. 
    • PM GatiShakti will help in synchronising the activities of each department, as well as of different layers of governance, in a holistic manner by ensuring coordination of work between them.
  • Analytical: 
    • The plan will provide the entire data at one place with GIS based spatial planning and analytical tools having 200+ layers, enabling better visibility to the executing agency.
  • Dynamic: 
    • All Ministries and Departments will now be able to visualise, review and monitor the progress of cross-sectoral projects, through the GIS platform, as the satellite imagery will give on-ground progress periodically and progress of the projects will be updated on a regular basis on the portal. 
    • It will help in identifying the vital interventions for enhancing and updating the master plan.

Significance

• Institutional infrastructure:
  • The Centre’s support in creating an institutional framework in time-bound manner and implementation of projects under the PM Gati Shakti national master plan for multimodal connectivity will give a boost to overall infrastructure of the country.
• Ease of Living: 
  • Endeavour to build Next Generation Infrastructure which improves Ease of Living as well as Ease of Doing Business. 
  • The multi-modal connectivity will provide integrated and seamless connectivity for movement of people, goods and services from one mode of transport to another. 
  • It will facilitate the last mile connectivity of infrastructure and also reduce travel time for people.
• Information help with investing: 
  • PM GatiShakti will provide the public and business community information regarding the upcoming connectivity projects, other business hubs, industrial areas and surrounding environment. 
  • This will enable the investors to plan their businesses at suitable locations leading to enhanced synergies. 
• Utilisation of resources : 
  • It will create multiple employment opportunities and give a boost to the economy. 
  • PM Gatishakti, will also lead to optimum utilisation of the country’s resources as everyone will be able to make their plan with complete information. ‘Infrastructure-based development’ will lead to an extraordinary increase in the strength of India’s economy, creating many new possibilities of employment.
• Improved competitiveness:
  • It will improve the global competitiveness of local products by cutting down the logistics costs and improving the supply chains, and also ensure proper linkages for local industry & consumers.
• Reduce turnaround time:
  • Besides cutting logistics costs, the scheme is also aimed at increasing cargo handling capacity and reducing the turnaround time at ports to boost trade.
• Tourism: 
  • Infrastructure was key to development of tourism, including spiritual and medical tourism

• Streamlining of construction projects:
  • Besides planning and awarding the project, issues related to construction and work on the project will also be streamlined.
• Benefits maximum people:
  • It will help utilities plan better and ensure that infrastructure is planned in a way that it benefits maximum people or agencies.
• Holistic and integrated planning:
  • The government intends to break departmental silos and bring in more holistic and integrated planning and execution of projects.
• Foster employment generation:
  • Centre is focussed on stepping up public capital expenditure to invigorate the virtuous cycle of investment and thereby foster employment generation.

Way forward

• Infrastructure development will play an important role in India’s aim to become a $5 trillion economy.
• India is seeking the use of innovative technology and materials in road construction, and is open to adopting guidelines for use of new materials and technology.
• An amount of Rs 1 lakh crore has been provided in loans by the Centre to state governments to enable them to ramp up their capital expenditure.

Source:IE