PM Gati Shakti scheme assesses 208 infrastructure projects worth Rs 15.39 lakh crore

New Delhi, Oct 12 (IANS) In a fillip to India’s infrastructure development and multi-modal connectivity, the PM Gati Shakti scheme has achieved a milestone of assessing 208 big-ticket infrastructure projects worth Rs 15.39 lakh crore of various ministries, the government said on Saturday. 

Additionally, 434 projects under three economic corridors of the Ministry of Railways have been evaluated and shared with the PMO, which are energy, mineral and cement corridors, high traffic density corridors and Rail Sagar.

The PM Gati Shakti National Master Plan (NMP) has onboarded 44 Central Ministries and 36 states/UTs and a total of 1,614 data layers have also been integrated.

To ensure data accuracy, key infrastructure ministries have finalised standard operating procedures (SOPs) for a three-tier system and SOPs for eight infrastructure ministries and 15 social sector ministries have been notified, with development continuing for other ministries and States/UTs.

According to the Ministry of Finance, a District Master Plan (DMP) portal is being developed to extend PM Gati Shakti to the district level.

This portal will aid district authorities in collaborative planning, infrastructure gap identification and scheme implementation.

A beta version of this portal has already been created for 28 aspirational districts, and user accounts were provided to these districts on September 18.

“Trial runs of the portal are ongoing, with orientation programs in October 2024. The DMP portals for all the country's districts will be developed in a phased manner and completed by March 31, 2025,” said the ministry.

The PM Gati Shakti NMP has resulted in numerous achievements across various sectors, significantly improving project planning, speed, and execution.

The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways planned over 8,891 km of roads using NMP, while the Ministry of Railways used NMP to plan more than 27,000 km of railway lines.

The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas streamlined the process for detail route survey (DRS), reducing the time required to create reports from 6-9 months to just one day using electronic DRS.

Moreover, the National Logistics Policy (NLP) has been launched to boost India’s economic growth by creating an integrated, efficient, and cost-effective logistics network.

The policy aims to reduce logistics costs, improve India's Logistics Performance Index (LPI) ranking to be among the top 25 countries by 2030, and promote data-driven decision-making.

--IANS

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