Gati Shakti initiative gives impetus to India’s infrastructure mission

The Gati Shakti National Master Plan is expected to deploy a geospatial digital platform that will provide real-time information on infrastructure projects across 16 ministries. The use of digital technologies for mapping infrastructure facilities in India has been lacking, and with the availability of relevant data and satellite information, the launch of such a portal leads the country towards a modern infrastructure process system. The development of facilities should be promoted in an integrated manner integrating greater visibility in core sectors such as railways, shipping and roads and highways. With a single portal including multi-layered tiers of data, decision making and various implementation processes can be streamlined and made both efficient and timely.

This initiative builds on the previous actions and policies of the government to boost infrastructure. Public-private partnerships have been revamped and include new models such as toll-operate-transfer and a hybrid annuity model. Access to finance has opened up through innovative mechanisms such as infrastructure and real estate investment trusts and development finance institutions.

The National Infrastructure Pipeline has been commissioned with 8,200 projects costing Rs. ₹111 trillion, and it satisfies the request of the Indian industry for a shelf of projects ready for investment. Another landmark initiative is the National Monetization Pipeline, which brings the private sector into India’s infrastructure mission by leasing out assets for operation and maintenance as well as new investments. According to the hypothesis, ₹6 trillion can be raised this way to invest in new projects for the government.

Speed ​​power comes with a number of potential benefits for the economy. At a time when public expenditure is expected to support growth, it will ensure better use of scarce funds and continue investing in new projects. Rapid infrastructure creation can be a huge employment multiplier while creating new employment opportunities in rural areas. The new connectivity and linkages will enable areas that are currently outside to join the economic mainstream, which in turn could create many business opportunities as rural and urban commercial activity experiences better integration.

Furthermore, there are gaps in multimodal transport due to the lack of last mile connectivity and the heterogeneous nature of pricing between the available modes of transport, resulting in higher overall transport costs. Many modes such as waterways and air freight are insufficiently developed. Once the various transport routes are seamlessly linked, the Indian logistics sector will shift to greater containerization for the movement of goods, using the lowest cost options available, be it road, rail. Or a waterway.

Time and cost escalation has characterized the project implementation so far. According to the Ministry of Statistics and Program Implementation, which monitors infrastructure projects ₹Of the 1,736 projects worth Rs 150 crore and above, 449 faced cost escalation and 547 were delayed. This has been a challenge in the infrastructure sector, with delays in clearances by ministries working in the silos that play a role. Gati Shakti is expected to facilitate planning, implementation, monitoring and administration of transport infrastructure projects so that they do not face delays. Time savings will lead to monetary savings, which can be rolled back into the social sphere, among others.

For the industry, availability of detailed data on facilities at a particular location will save a lot of time and effort in making investment decisions. A plug-and-play model for industrial parks, as promised through the scheme, has long been a request of the Indian industry to get approvals and clearances in advance for an enterprise to start functioning faster. Be.

The plan envisions a targeted approach to complete the industrial parks with an end date of 2024-25. 109 pharma and medical device clusters, 90 textile parks (or clusters), 197 food parks and agro processing centres, 11 industrial corridors and two defense corridors are envisaged for integration through transport facilities. Our need for better internal connectivity and faster access to ports can now be addressed holistically. This will help in export competitiveness.

The approach to using geospatial digital platforms will need to be implemented by all ministries and agencies to ensure that it achieves its objectives. With all the projects uploaded on the portal, greater coordination among the agencies concerned on approvals etc., should catalyze the projects. In addition, working with state governments on project implementation, close collaboration with local departments on the ground will yield definite results for last mile connectivity. These local bodies can also be a part of the portal. Monitoring of projects is proposed to be done through various committees of senior officials, and Gati Shakti will provide timely data on where processes are stuck, for prompt action. With the Prime Minister’s focus on infrastructure, the interventions to get the projects back on track are likely to be solution-oriented.

In short, Gati Shakti ensures Indian infrastructure adoption of digital technology, which will improve overall project execution and efficiency. The gains in productivity promise to be significant for India’s economy, as well as reduce logistics costs for the industry. This is another transformational step that we have been expecting from this government.

Chandrajit Banerjee is the Director General of Confederation of Indian Industry