Gati Shakti National Master Plan

What is Gati National Shakti Master Plan?

In his speech, PM Modi pegged the project as a source of employment opportunities for the youth in future.

“In the coming days, we will launch PM Gati Shakti Plan, a 100 lakh crore national infrastructure master plan which will make a foundation for holistic infrastructure and give an integrated pathway to our economy,” PM Modi said.

Why in News

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan virtually attended the launch of ‘Pradhan Mantri Gati Shakti National Master Plan’ organized at Pragati Maidan, Delhi.

Key Points

• It is noteworthy that Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the ‘PM Gati Shakti National Master Plan’ for multi-modal connectivity.
• On this occasion, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said that Madhya Pradesh will prepare with full force for this great campaign of development. He decided to immediately link Madhya Pradesh with the PM Gati Shakti National Master Plan.
• Along with this, the Chief Minister also inaugurated the state level ‘Conference on Multi Infrastructure Connectivity’ at Minto Hall.
• Gati Shakti is a digital platform which will bring together 16 ministries including rail and road for integrated planning and coordinated implementation of infrastructure connectivity projects. Basically Gati Shakti will have 200 types of databases, in which the physical facilities, district administration offices, rail, road and gas lines, health and police along with facilities like water bodies, reserve parks and forests will be mapped by GIS system.
• Through this various central ministries and state governments will be able to benefit from better logistics schemes and connectivity.

Why is the programme needed?

While launching the Gati Shakti initiative, PM Modi had stressed on the wide gap between macro planning and micro implementation, problems of lack of coordination, lack of advance information, and how thinking and working in silos were leading to hampered construction and wastage of budget.

Targets Under Gati Shakti

A massive infrastructure push has been one of the Modi government’s key initiatives in the second term, and Gati Shakti takes that forward.

The plan includes 11 industrial corridors, achieving a Rs 1.7 lakh crore turnover in defence production and having 38 electronics manufacturing clusters and 109 pharma clusters by 2024-25.

The national master plan fixes targets up to 2024-25 for all infrastructure ministries. Like for the Road Transport and Highways Ministry, the target is having National Highways of 2 lakh km, completion of four or six-lane national highways of 5,590 km along coastal areas and all state capitals in north-east to be connected with four-lane national highways or two two-lane national highways.

For Railways, the target by 2024-25 is to handle cargo of 1,600 million tonnes from 1,210 million tonnes in 2020, decongesting 51 percent of the Railway network by completing additional lines and implementation of two Dedicated Freight Corridors (DFCs).

In Civil Aviation, the target is to double the existing aviation footprint to have a total of 220 airports, heliports and water aerodromes by 2025 which would mean building additional 109 such facilities by then. In Shipping, the national masterplan says the target by 2024-25 is to have total cargo capacity to be handled at the ports at 1,759 MMTPA from 1,282 MMTPA in 2020.

The gas pipeline network in the country is aimed to be doubled to 34,500 km by 2024-25 by building an additional 17,000 km long trunk pipeline connecting major demand and supply centres for industries, as per the plan. In Power lines, the total transmission network by 2024-25 is targeted to be 4.52 lakh circuit km and the renewable energy capacity will be increased to 225 GW from 87.7 GW presently.

“With 11 industrial and two defence corridors, this scheme will hugely benefit our MSME sector in becoming a part of high-speed growth of our economy. This scheme will not only ensure a widespread reach of basic amenities to the remotest areas of our country but will also significantly enhance business opportunities for inclusive growth. We are creating a closely-knit high-speed growth environment for the citizens of India.” Suraj Nangia, Partner at Nangia Andersen.