The Network Planning Group (NPG) of the PM Gati Shakti Master Plan on Friday approved five highway projects worth Rs 15,683 crore in four states, a senior official said. With this, the number of projects that has been approved by NPG so far touched 85, at investments of Rs 5.4 trillion, special secretary (logistics), Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade, Sumita Dawra said after the 51st meeting of the group.
All infrastructure projects of over Rs 500 crore have to get an approval from NPG, which has representatives of all infrastructure ministries, to ensure that their planning conforms to the objectives of Gati Shakti Master Plan.
Of the five highway projects approved on Friday include construction for mitigation measures in Uttarakhand, two in Maharashtra, one in Kanpur and one in Mizoram. In Mizoram a bypass tunnel for Aizawl has been approved while for Kanpur a ring road/bypass has got the go-ahead.
The PM Gati Shakti digital platform, launched in October 2021, aims to provide multimodal connectivity infrastructure to various economic zones by bringing together 16 ministries’ integrated planning and coordinated implementation of projects, in cooperation with the state governments.
The inputs of different ministries ensure that a project is aligned with other available or planned infrastructure in the area which it will address to get the maximum out of the proposed investment.
The Gati Shakti Master Plan seeks to ensure each project enhances the impact of other planning for an area, be it in industrial corridors, roads, railways, ports, telecom, urban development projects, petroleum pipelines, renewable energy and social sector.
The ministry of steel has asked for inclusion of slurry pipelines which carry iron ore and sometimes bauxite to be included in the Gati Shakti Framework. The slurry pipelines, like petroleum pipelines, will reduce logistics costs and inclusion in Gati Shakti Framework will make planning for the alignment easier and faster.
The approval of the NPG is required before clearance of the project by the Public Investment Board (PIB) or Department of Expenditure. The maximum number of projects recommended by NPG are for roads, railways and urban development. Of the total, 31 road projects with a total investment of Rs 3.31 trillion, 34 railway projects worth Rs 80,896 crore and 8 urban development projects entailing investment of Rs 79,016 crore have been approved.
