Six infra projects worth Rs 52,000 Cr recommended for approval under the PM Gati Shakti initiative

In the 56th Network Planning Group (NPG) meeting Thursday, six infrastructure projects of roads and railways worth Rs 52,000 crore have been recommended for approval under the PM Gati Shakti initiative, an official statement of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry said on Thursday. With the development, the total number of projects assessed by NPG to 112 with a total value of about Rs 11.53 lakh crore, since the launch of PM Gati Shakti, it said. The Ministry of Road Transport and Highway (MoRTH) presented four road projects worth about Rs 45000 crore to NPG and demonstrated adherence to GatiShakti principles, according to the statement. The first project proposal is a greenfield road located in the State of Gujarat and Maharashtra, that will benefit not only industrial belts in Navsari, Nashik, and Ahmednagar districts but also the agriculture sector in the region, it said. Additionally, the project is expected to contribute to the overall socio-economic development of tribal districts like Navsari, Valsad and Nashik by providing easy and convenient connectivity. It will also benefit the tourism sector in the region and will also connect aspirational districts, such as Osmanabad. The second project is also located in the state of Gujarat, through Banaskantha, Patan, Mahesana, Gandhinagar and Ahmedabad district. It will connect the Amritsar-Jamnagar economic corridor with Ahmedabad and Vadodara and will integrate with other modes of transportation, thereby contributing to the promotion and usage of multi-modality in the region, it said. The third road project proposed is located in the State of Bihar and involves the construction of 4 lanes of the Patna- Arrah-Sasaram corridor under Bharatmala Pariyojna, it said. This project is expected to bring socio-economic development in left-wing extremism-affected districts, including tribal areas. The project will help in improving logistics efficiency by reducing existing routes and travel time and provide seamless connectivity for the traffic coming from UP through Purvanchal Expressway and going towards Jharkhand and Patna. The fourth road project discussed during the meeting is located in Uttar Pradesh with the objective of improving the interstate connectivity between Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand. The inter-ministerial NPG meets every fortnight and appraises infra projects to ensure multi-modality, synchronisation of efforts, and comprehensive development in and around the project location. The initiative was launched to develop an integrated infrastructure to reduce logistics costs. All logistics and connectivity infrastructure projects, entailing investments of over Rs 500 crore are routed through the NPG. The NPG’s approval is required before clearance of the project by the Public Investment Board (PIB) or Department of Expenditure under the finance ministry. The maximum number of projects recommended by the group are related to roads, railways and urban development. The NMP has a number of layers of geospatial data showing all physical and social infrastructure of an area and land records in one place. It has been designed for faster planning and better design so that the impact of an investment is maximised. The NPG has representations from various connectivity infrastructure ministries/ departments involving their heads of network planning division for unified planning and integration of the proposals. All these departments approach the NPG first for approval before making a DPR (Detailed Project Report) at the planning stage. After the NPG’s clearance, the project follows the normal procedure of approval by the finance ministry and the Cabinet. Over 1,400 layers of data, including those related to land, ports, forests, and highways, are available on the portal. Usage of the portal by different ministries, including social sector departments and states, is increasing and it is helping in the proper planning of projects, it said.