Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal has reviewed the progress of PM GatiShakti with senior officials from eight infrastructure ministries. The review meeting was held on Monday.
Since its launch in October 2021, infrastructure projects approved by the Cabinet have either been completed or are already under implementation, according to a statement from the ministry of commerce and industry. The Network Planning Group (NPG) under the PM GatiShakti institutional structure has held 41 meetings in the past one year, according to the statement. Sixty-one project proposals pertaining to road, railways, natural gas, ports and urban infrastructure have been evaluated in terms of optimising PM GatiShakti principles and recommended by NPG for implementation in the coming years, the ministry said.
It was informed that 12 social sector ministries namely ministry of housing and urban affairs, department of school education and literacy, department of higher education, ministry of women and child development, and ministry of tribal affairs, among others, were in advanced stages of data integration in the National Master Plan (NMP) Platform. Goyal on Monday appreciated the progress made by central ministries and states, at Vanijya Bhawan in New Delhi, and emphasised that PM GatiShakti needs to play a proactive role for planning and in sound decision-making.
The ministries were requested to identify attributes for data layers which will further enhance the PM GatiShakti-National Master Plan (NMP) platform. Over 1,900 layers of data, including that of land, ports, forests and highways, are available on the portal. Ministries have developed necessary mechanisms for validating and standardising data on their respective portals. According to the ministry, this was helping in optimum-planning and sound decision-making across all layers of governance.
With India now holding the G20 Presidency 2023, creating a resilient and efficient logistics ecosystem and promoting seamless multimodal international transportation and transit is being put on international priority. As part of the Trade and Investment Working Group (TIWG), “Logistics for Trade” has been identified as one of the priority issues. During the meeting, various ministries made presentations and deliberated their progress and achievements under PM GatiShakti. The value addition brought to planning of infrastructure ministries was discussed and best practices identified and showcased.
The ministries that participated in the review were the ministry of railways, the ministry of road transport and highways, the ministry of ports, shipping and waterways, the ministry of civil aviation, ministry of power, the department of telecommunication, the ministry of petroleum and natural gas, the ministry of natural and renewable energy, textile and steel.
