All logistics and connectivity infrastructure projects, with potential investments of over Rs 500 crore, are monitored by the NPG.

The Network Planning Group (NPG), which reviews large projects under the PM GatiShakti initiative, have so far cleared as many as 229 critical infrastructure projects of different ministries, a senior government official said on Tuesday.

In October last year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had rolled out the Gati Shakti-National Master Plan. It is essentially a GIS-based platform with close to 1,500 layers, capturing all utilities and network linkages in various economic clusters. Under this, different departments join hands for a coordinated development of projects, especially to address first and last-mile connectivity issues and reduce logistics costs.

All logistics and connectivity infrastructure projects, with potential investments of over Rs 500 crore, are monitored by the NPG.

Amrit Lal Meena, special secretary in the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), said: “As of today, 229 critical infrastructure gaps have been reported and necessary recommendations have been given by the NPG from the perspective of logistics efficiency.” The projects are from various ministries, including steel, coal, ports and shipping.

“Use of the National Master Plan (NMP) portal is helping the central and state governments to cut time and cost of critical infrastructure projects. Unforeseen disruptions will be reduced now due to use of the portal,” he told reporters here.

So far, as many as 26 states have integrated different categories of data with the NMP portal, being used extensively by both the central and state governments.

While hundreds of new projects worth over `500 crore each are already part of the Gati Shakti initiative, even smaller but “high-impact and high-priority” projects have also been selected. Importantly, the Centre has now zeroed in on “missing-link projects” where the cost involved is not much but the multiplier effect is huge.

ALSO READ Societies that focus on education tend to succeed, says PM Modi

“For instance, there is a port and there is a highway nearby but the road connecting the two is missing or is highly congested. So, the issue of last-mile connectivity, which will cost less but yield much higher benefits, needs to be addressed. Therefore, the ministries of road and railways, etc. are planning for these missing links on a high priority,” DPIIT secretary Anurag Jain had told FE in an interview.

Announcing the launch of Gati Shakti, Modi had said: “Just as JAM (Jan Dhan, Aadhar, Mobile) trinity revolutionised the access of government facilities to the people, PM Gati Shakti will do the same for the field of infrastructure.”

https://www.financialexpress.com/infrastructure/key-govt-group-clears-229-large-projects-under-pm-gatishakti/2707503/