New Delhi [India] : Union Minister Sarbananda Sonowal highlighted the salient features of the PM Gati Shakti, a ‘national masterplan’ and said that it will give impetus to 21st century India by ending decades of bureaucratic entanglements and working in silos when it comes to infrastructure projects. “The project is aimed at bringing in seamless and coordination among 16 ministries and departments for apt planning and smooth execution of the infrastructure projects. Major central government ministries like Railways, Roads and Highways, Petroleum and Gas, Power, Telecom, Shipping and Aviation will be part of this project,” said Union Minister for Ports, Shipping and Waterways. Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched a massive Rs 100 trillion infrastructure Initiative on October 13 which is dubbed as the country’s roadmap for the next 25 years. Sonowal said, “There has always been a gap between macro planning and micro execution. Due to bureaucratic entanglements and inter-ministerial silos, the work used to get held up costing the exchequer’s huge cost. In order to address this problem, the plan envisions a digital portal with all existing and planned infrastructure projects of the ministries and departments included in the project.” “It further aims to create multimodal connectivity which will reduce cost. With holistic planning and execution, there is going to be swift execution and savings on time and money. With the transparency of progress, it will be now easier to prioritise projects through cross-sectoral interactions,” he added. The Minister further added, “The government expects that this initiative will also bring in huge benefits to state governments as they will now be able to figure out the time frame for a particular infrastructure project and accordingly pitch for investor interest by giving a reasonable period of commitment. The project aims to bring down the logistical costs by developing last-mile connectivity as well as optimally using all the economic zones and industrial parks through the development of multi-modal connectivity.” PM GatiShakti is the result of the Prime Minister’s constant endeavour to build Next Generation Infrastructure which improves Ease of Living as well as Ease of Doing Business. The multi-modal connectivity will provide integrated and seamless connectivity for the movement of people, goods and services from one mode of transport to another. It will facilitate the last mile connectivity of infrastructure and also reduce travel time for people.
