On the eve of 75th Independence Day on August 15, 2021, Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi announced from the Red Fort that the government will launch ‘PM Gati Shakti National Master Plan’ worth Rs. 100 lakh-crore. Gati, the Hindi word for speed, aims to boost economic growth (Shakti) through infrastructure building. The Plan was launched on 13th October, 2021.
Improvement and development of infrastructure has been a key area of focus for the government.
The PM Gati Shakti Plan, will go a long way in developing multi-modal network to create world-class infrastructure with full support on planning, financing, innovation and technology.
With an aim to integrate Central Government ministries for faster decision taking with proper co-ordination, presently the plan has brought various important ministries related to infrastructure on one platform. These are railways, roads and highways, petroleum & gas, telecom, power, shipping, and aviation, among others.
PM Gati Shakti Plan will enhance India’s global competitiveness through next-generation infrastructure and seamless multi-modal connectivity to ensure seamless movement of goods and people and improve the ease of living as well as the ease of doing business in the country.
Infrastructure creation in India had suffered multiple issues including lack of coordination between different implementation agencies as well as information gap leading to cost and time over run-in implementation of projects. These issues not only led to public inconvenience but also deprived the country of having world class infrastructure.
To address this, efforts were put in place to increase coordination between different agencies, make available all the available and required information for infrastructure creation on a web- based platform.
Steps have also been taken to address other issues like time-taking approval process, multiplicity of regulatory clearances etc.
PM Gati Shakti is based on six pillars: Comprehensiveness, Prioritization, Optimization, Synchronization, Analytics and Dynamic.
What are expected outcome from Gati Shakti National Master Plan?
Gati Shakti envisages shaping India into the business capital of the world.
- A comprehensive and integrated transport connectivity strategy will considerably support ‘Make in India’.
- Establishing industrial corridors and defence corridors.
- It will help map the existing and proposed connectivity projects.
- It should help achieve the various objectives of the government of India such as expanding the length of the national highway network to 2 lakh km, the creation of heliports and water aerodromes, and the development of many new airports.
- Boosting trade by enhancing the cargo handling capacity and decreasing the turnaround time at Indian ports.
- Another aim is the expansion of the gas pipeline network.
Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said while delivering the budget speech for 2022 on February 1, 2022.
“The touchstone of the Gati Shakti National Master Plan will be world-class, modern infrastructure and logistics synergy among different modes of movement of both, people and goods, and location of projects.”
