New Delhi : The Union government has identified 196 critical infrastructure gap projects for work under the PM Gati Shakti National Master Plan, a top government official said. The government had launched the ambitious PM Gati Shakti last year to provide multimodal connectivity infrastructure.
Critical infrastructure gap projects are already existing projects which need improvement to increase capacity. According to Anurag Jain, Secretary, Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), various ministries are conducting infrastructure audits to identify critical last- and first-mile infrastructure gaps.
“So far, 196 critical infrastructure gap projects related to port connectivity and movement of coal, steel and food products have been identified, on which the Network Planning Group (NPG) is coordinating with the ministries concerned. For example, the entire rail section between Punjab and Assam has a single rail section of 95 km. If 95 km of single rail between Gorakhpur to Valmiki Nagar is converted into double trains, the capacity will increase to 15 rakes per day.”
According to DPIIT Special Secretary Amrit Lal Meena, around 14 states, including Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra, have formulated their state-level logistics policies, and 13 state logistics policies are in the drafting stage. ,
Officials further said that various ministries, including telecom, railways, road transport and food and public distribution, have started using the platform for infrastructure planning and decision making.
Jain said that resolution of issues of time bound project implementation through the Project Monitoring Group (PMG) mechanism has gained momentum, and in the last eight months, around 1,300 issues have been resolved.
“Out of 1,300 issues, 40% issues are related to the availability of land. 25-30% issues are of environment clearance, 15% are of use rights and right of way,” Jain said.
The Union government is set to announce the National Logistics Policy (NLP) on September 17, which aims to reduce logistics cost and address the challenges faced by importers and exporters.
Logistics cost in the country is 14-15% of GDP as compared to developed countries like Singapore and US, which have managed to keep this cost at 7-8% of GDP and its benefit to boost exports Is raised. Jain said the NLP aims to bring down the cost to 8% of GDP by 2030.
catch all Industry News, banking news And updates on Live Mint. download mint news app to receive daily market update,