Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurates Gati Shakti Masterplan to reduce disparity in macro planning and micro implementation.
In a bold attempt to boost India’s infrastructure and strengthen its manufacturing capabilities by bringing down the cost of logistics, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday launched the PM Gati Shakti National Masterplan, under which the entire network of infrastructure projects will be laid out for the coming years. As part of the project, the government will be launching a comprehensive geospatial digital platform to plan and monitor the work on ground. “The India of 21st Century has one mantra: ‘will for progress, work for progress, wealth for progress, plan for progress, and preference for progress’. The country is ready and is willing to invest in modern infrastructure,” said the PM at the launch event.
Industry support
The initiative was lauded by the business community. “Connectivity is the most crucial factor for infrastructure and the Gati Shakti Masterplan will address this factor. The long-term impact of this project will be deep and sustainable, and it will improve not just ease of doing business, but also ease of living,” said Kumar Mangalam Birla, Chairman of the Aditya Birla Group. He added that the project will leverage the power of digitalization by using multi-layered geospatial technology to provide dashboards and 3D images in real time. “The government has taken a platform approach using the most modern technology.”
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The Gati Shakti platform will be accessed by government departments and ministries and will provide high-resolution satellite imagery for better visualization of projects. It will also have over 200 GIS (Geographic Information System) layers and will prove to be crucial for logistical planning. “Through this masterplan, new connectivity and linkages will ensure that the regions that were left out earlier will now be included as part of infrastructure development,” said TV Narendran, CEO & Managing Director of Tata Steel Limited, and President of the Confederation of Indian Industry.
No delays, hurdles
In his address, Prime Minister Modi emphasized that the Gati Shakti Masterplan will ensure that there are no project delays or hurdles in implementation. “Planning is involved even in the construction of a small house. In India, problems with comprehensive planning occur repeatedly. For instance, the railways does its own planning and so does the road transport authorities. Then there is planning for telecom and for gas pipeline network. There is often a lack of coordination between different departments and so, there is great disparity between macro planning and micro implementation. This initiative will address this long-standing problem,” he said.
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The PM added that working in silos hurts both decision-making and budgets. “Gati shakti will ensure optimum utilization of resources. It will take a whole of government approach. We have also urged states to join in.” He also cited a report claiming that logistics cost amounts to 30% of India’s GDP which affects the country’s export competitiveness.
Meanwhile, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said that the Gati Shakti Masterplan will provide new speed and direction to India’s development. He added that through the platform, the government will be able to map the available infrastructure, track ongoing projects, and plan future infrastructure. The platform has been developed by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology’s Bhaskaracharya National Institute for Space Applications and Geo-informatics (BISAG-N) and will enable the government to simultaneously plan and execute multiple infrastructure projects.
